Past Director of Summer Programs, Music & Sound
(Thomas Rolston retired in Summer 2004)

Thomas Rolston attended the Mannes College of Music in New York and trained under Roman Totenberg. He studied with David Martin at the Royal Academy of Music from 1950-53, and was a member of the Philharmonia Orchestra of London from 1951-58. He attended the Brussels Conservatory from 1956-57, and returned to Canada in 1958 to take up a position as concertmaster and associate conductor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and to teach at the University of Alberta, where he remained until 1979, and helped found the University of Alberta String Quartet in 1969. Rolston also introduced the Suzuki method of violin instruction to Canada, founding the Society for Talent Education in 1964.

He began teaching at The Banff Centre in 1965, serving as head of the string department from 1965 to 1971, music co-ordinator from 1971 to 1977, and music director from 1977 to 1979. In 1979 he became the first director of the Centre’s new year-round program for advanced studies. During the 1980s, Rolston continued to create new programs for The Banff Centre and developed a resident ensemble, the Canadian Chamber Orchestra. During this period his administrative leadership helped to bring the music programs into international prominence. He led the Banff Festival Strings in a 1991 CD, and was the violin soloist in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on that recording. He taught 1988-91 at the Department of Music at the University of Calgary, and in 1991 served as a member of the jury for the Naumburg International Competition for violists.

In 1974 he received an Alberta Achievement Award in recognition of his work as an educator, and in 1982 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of his contribution to music in Canada. In 1998 he received an honourary doctor of laws degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.