Berlin-based American conductor Thomas Fortner is active in symphonic, operatic, ballet, and educational settings across Europe and North America. From 2017 to 2024, Fortner served as Assistant Conductor and Youth Orchestra Music Director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, hailed by The New Yorker as “one of America’s boldest orchestras.” During his tenure, he led more than 50 performances spanning classical subscription concerts, pops, film with live orchestra, education, family, and youth orchestra programs. His work encompassed a range of community-focused and educational initiatives, including Young People’s Concerts that were broadcast statewide on public radio and television.

In September 2025, Fortner will make his European opera stage debut conducting a production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene with the Brandenburger Symphoniker. Recent highlights of the 2024–2025 season include concert debuts with the Brandenburger Symphoniker in Berlin and the Filharmonie Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic, as well as a return engagement performing at the Crescendo Summer Institute in Tokaj, Hungary. Additionally, he assisted Vladimir Jurowski at the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB), Steven Sloane and the Bochumer Symphoniker, and Konrad Junghänel in a production of Haydn’s rarely performed opera Armide with the Kammerakademie Potsdam.

In 2023, he was assistant conductor of the Berlin Academy of American Music for its performance at the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Romania—one of the world’s leading classical music festivals. In the United States, Fortner has appeared as cover conductor with the Omaha Symphony and the Concert Artists of Baltimore, and as guest conductor with the Amarillo Symphony, South Dakota Ballet, Southwest Minnesota Orchestra, and the Twin Cities Symphony—a startup ensemble focused on innovative concert experiences.

A committed advocate for new music, Fortner was a conducting fellow at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and served on the board of the Minneapolis-based new music ensemble, the 10th Wave Chamber Collective. He is the founder of the Iowa Great Lakes Music Festival, where he partnered with local presenters to bring world-class performances to rural communities. During his tenure as Music Director of the South Dakota Symphony Youth Orchestra, he founded Creativity Club, an educational initiative that provided young composers mentorship and performance opportunities.

Fortner holds a Graduate Performance Diploma in Conducting from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Marin Alsop and Markand Thakar and was a member of the final class selected by the late Gustav Meier. His training includes masterclasses with Leonard Slatkin, Hannu Lintu, Markus Stenz, and Nicholas McGegan. He previously earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in cello performance at McGill University in Montreal. As a postgraduate conducting fellow at the Universität der Künste (University of the Arts) Berlin, he was mentored by Harry Curtis and participated in masterclasses and projects with orchestras such as the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, the Preußisches Kammerorchester, and the Philharmonisches Orchester Cottbus.

As a cellist, he has performed chamber music alongside musicians from orchestras such as the Houston Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Off the podium, Fortner is pursuing his passion for flight by working towards earning his Pilot’s License.

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