DR. JASON THOMPSON returns to the Bach Collegium as the guest conductor of the 15th Season Finale Concert, May 7 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church.

Dr. Thompson is associate professor of music at Indiana Wesleyan University where he has been on faculty since 2006. He conducts the IWU Orchestra, Early Music Ensemble, and Opera Theatre. He also teaches violin, viola, and music history. He serves as concertmaster and assistant conductor of the Marion Philharmonic Orchestra. He has served as interim conductor for the Symphony of the Lakes in Winona Lake and cover conductor for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. He is the founder of the Guilford Town Band in Guilford, Connecticut, a semi-professional wind ensemble that he directed from 2000 to 2007.

Dr. Thompson is a scholar in the area of early Lutheran Church Music. He is a regular presenter and on the board of directors of Lutheranism and the Classics. His published writings include “The Retention of the Latin Sequence in the Early Lutheran Church,” published in Ad Fontes Witebergenses. His doctoral final project, “A Handbook for Reconstructing 16th Century Lutheran Masses” is available online at scholarworks.iu.edu. He regularly puts his research into practice at Redeemer Lutheran Church, where he directs the Redeemer Consort.

As a Baroque violinist, Dr. Thompson has performed regularly with the Bach Collegium-Fort Wayne, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Bourbon Baroque, La Réunion Musicale, and New Comma Baroque. On modern violin, he has performed with numerous professional orchestras throughout. In 2011, he had the privilege of touring with Soprani Compagni culminating in a performance in Carnegie Hall.

Dr. Thompson holds a Bachelor of Science in Violin Performance and Conducting from Indiana University, a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Bowling Green State University, and a Doctor of Music in Early Music Ensemble Direction from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.