Thomas Bacon's work in the United States, Europe, South America, Africa and Asia has placed him in the highest echelon of hornists worldwide. He has held principal horn positions with the Syracuse Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestras. He also has performed in guest principal positions with the Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin Opera, Pittsburgh Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Chicago Symphony and many others.
As soloist, Bacon has performed with hundreds of orchestras, concert bands, brass ensembles and jazz bands across the United States and abroad, and he has performed as a guest artist at music festivals throughout the world. Bacon is also a founding member of Summit Brass.
Bacon has made numerous solo recordings and performed on dozens of other discs for Pro Arte Records, London Records, RCA Records, Motown Records, Telarc, Crystal Records, Centaur Records, CBS Records, Gasparo Records, Vanguard Records, A&M Records, New World Records and Summit Records. He is also editor of The Complete Hornist series for Southern Music Company and The Modern Hornist series for JOMAR Press. Over seventy new pieces have been written for Bacon by different composers from dramatic theater pieces and children's pieces to avant-garde chamber works, solo concertos, jazz compositions and pieces for horn ensemble. Reaching out to music lovers of all ages, his audiences are enchanted with drama, humor, virtuosity, musicianship and a stage presence that captivates. Bacon is in the vanguard of artists who are changing the face of classical music and successfully appealing to a broader audience.
Bacon is a subject in the book Twentieth-Century Brass Soloists by Michael Meckna, (Greenwood Press, 1994). The book profiles ninety-nine of the world's most outstanding soloists on all brass instruments who flourished in the twentieth century from trombonist Arthur Pryor (1870-1942) to trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (b. 1961) and other greats, including Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Maurice André, Barry Tuckwell, Dennis Brain and Philip Farkas. Meckna said the following about Bacon: "Like Barry Tuckwell, Bacon is a born virtuoso...one looks forward to hearing much more from this outstanding hornist."
Bacon has served on the faculties of Arizona State University, Rice University, the University of Houston, Syracuse University and Oakland University, and he has taught master classes at hundreds of colleges and universities around the world. His clinic for all musicians, "Practice Smarter Not Harder," has been presented at schools all over the United States.
Bacon has been a Yamaha Performing Artist since 1990.
