From the global stage to small-town classrooms, Dr. Mark Thomas has been teaching and conducting choral societies and orchestras for nearly 40 years.
Professional musical judges rated UPHS musicians’ performances on tone, dynamics, and rhythmic accuracy during their trip to Virginia. Just this year, on a scale of poor, fair, good, excellent, and superior, with the help of Thomas, Mrs. Hildebrand (band), and Mrs. Sia (band), the Choir, Orchestra, and Band each won trophies for their “excellent” performances.
Thomas learned to love music at a young age due to his mother’s love for it. She passed away when he was 11, and he “wanted to do something positive in her memory and as a way to help others.” Dr. Thomas has always had musical talent. In high school, he competed in districts for choir and trumpet before graduating from Upper Perk in 1979.
20 years later, Mr. Lampey, Thomas’s choral director and mentor, retired, leaving the position open to him. He took the job, and a few years after that, “[in] 2002, [Thomas] proposed [the orchestral program] to the school board and it was passed the next year,” allowing students to play string instruments in addition to brass, woodwind, and percussion.
Thomas has been recognized by major figures several times for his excellence in teaching. As a multiple-time Grammy nominee for music education, he’s been personally recognized by Bill Clinton, the United States, Germany, and Austria, and he has helped to collect dozens of first- and second-place trophies for UPHS.
Thomas has performed music in 26 countries and served as a guest artist and conductor for the New York Pops, the Prague Radio Symphony, and the State Orchestra of St. Petersburg. He was the first musician on the Upper Perkiomen “Wall of Fame” outside of the auditorium and was recognized as the best choral director in the Philadelphia area by the Philadelphia magazine.
After next year, Thomas is retiring from his position at our High School, and although he will not be here, his mark on the school remains. Dr. Thomas furthered the legacy of the music program started by Mr. Lampey at Upper Perk, and we hope it will continue to thrive.
