Conductor
Thomas G. Evans retired as the Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Kalamazoo College in 2024. During his tenure, he conducted and oversaw every aspect of the band program (i.e., The Academy Street Winds, Jazz Band, and Pep Band). In addition to his conducting assignments, he taught courses in Music History, Jazz, Music Education, Trombone, and Euphonium. He became the conductor of the Kalamazoo Concert Band in 2002, which is a widely respected community band of nearly 100 musicians.
Tom joined the faculty of Kalamazoo College in 1995 having held a similar position for eight years at Alfred University in Alfred, New York. His jazz bands have toured internationally (Russia, Estonia, Finland, and Tunisia) as well as nationally (Chicago, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, and Detroit). In 2003 and 2013, Tom took a 7-piece jazz combo from Kalamazoo College to Numazu, Japan. These week-long concert tours celebrated the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the sister city relationship between Kalamazoo and Numazu. Prior to teaching in higher education, Tom taught for six years in the New York State public schools where his high school bands and orchestras achieved the highest ratings at state festivals. From 2008-2022, Tom had the privilege of teaching music courses in Italy and New Zealand.
Tom holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Trombone Performance from the University of Michigan, a Master of Music degree in Music Education and Trombone Performance from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the State University of New York at Fredonia. Tom has performed on the trombone, bass trombone, euphonium, and bass trumpet with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, and the Bach Festival Orchestra. Moreover, Tom has appeared as a trombone soloist with the Kalamazoo Concert Band. In addition to performing as a freelance trombonist, Tom has served as a clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator. Tom has several articles published in The Instrumentalist.
In 2020, Tom was a recipient of the Community Medal of Arts Award. The Community Medal of Arts award recognizes an individual for their significant creative contributions and leadership in the arts. This lifetime achievement award also highlights an artist who has received acclaim on a local or national level and who has made a tremendous impact on the Kalamazoo community through art. This award encompasses all art forms, including but not limited to visual, musical, theatrical, literary, performing, multi-media, architecture or design.
When Tom is not conducting the KCB or playing the trombone, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Kitty, and his children: Matthew, Victoria, Andrew, Natalie, his sons-in-law: Tyler, and Bryan and his five grandchildren (Madeline, Sawyer, Michael, Eloise, and Claire, reading, cooking, baking, backpacking, hiking, camping, bicycling, gardening, photography, and especially traveling.