Dr. James Thompson serves as Education Coordinator for Orchestra Indiana, the same position he held with the former Muncie Symphony Orchestra since 2019. In this role, he manages all aspects of the orchestra’s education and community outreach programming, including Young People’s Concerts, the Patricia Tretick Young Artist Competition, and the Together in Music and Music on the Move programs. Collectively, he has executed over 230 education and community events that have reached more than 22,000 people across East Central Indiana since 2019.
In addition to this administrative work, Dr. Thompson enjoys an active career as a flutist and teacher. Dr. Thompson has performed on three continents in diverse venues ranging from LA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall to medieval Italian churches to the Great Wall of China. He has been named a winner of the National Flute Association’s Graduate Research and Masterclass competitions; and has appeared as a concerto soloist with the New Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Southern Illinois Symphony, the Ball State University Symphony Orchestra, and the Illinois State University Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at numerous National Flute Association conventions and the College Music Society National Conference.
An avid chamber musician, Dr. Thompson recently cofounded the Middle C Collective, a flute, bassoon, and viola trio dedicated to expanding the repertoire for nonstandard chamber ensembles. The Middle C Collective will perform Lindsey Wiehl’s trio, “Hex’s Bonfire,” at the 2024 American Viola Society Festival in Los Angeles. Equally at home in orchestral settings, Dr. Thompson currently holds the 3rd Flute & Piccolo chair with Symphony of the Lakes and is a regular performer in several regional orchestras.
Dr. Thompson currently resides in Muncie, where he teaches music history courses at Ball State University. He also serves as the flute instructor at Earlham College and has an active private studio of flute students. Originally from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, James received a Doctor of Arts in Music from Ball State University in 2019.