Stanley J. Thurston

Stanley J. Thurston is founding director of the Heritage Signature Chorale. As conductor, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, U.S. Capitol, The Music Center at Strathmore, Carter Barron Amphitheater, DAR Constitution Hall, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Washington National Cathedral, and Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. In September 2013, he was named Artist-in-Residence at Washington National Cathedral. He has appeared as guest conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, Soulful Symphony, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Civic Symphony, and the Prince Georges Philharmonic. Choruses under his direction have performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Festival Orchestra, Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Royal Ballet. Thurston’s orchestral arrangements have been performed by the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, New Jersey, and the National Symphony Orchestra.

He has collaborated as conductor with artists such as Kathleen Battle, Denyce Graves, Thomas Hampson, Kiri te Kanawa, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Canadian Brass, Ramsey Lewis and Wynton Marsalis. A graduate of Morgan State University and the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, he made his European conducting debut with Romania’s Opera Constanta, was principal conductor of Municipal Opera of Baltimore, and opera conductor with Washington DC’s In Series. He was music coordinator and conductor for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture Groundbreaking Ceremony. He is currently the artistic director of the Washington Performing Arts Society Choirs and director of music at Foundry United Methodist Church.