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Dante' Thomas
Percussion
Dante Thomas is a rising percussionist local to the Winston-Salem area. Dante is a recent double graduate of UNCSA (University of North Carolina School of the Arts), having gone through 2 of the graduate music programs. He obtained a Master’s of Music and P.A.C. certificate in music performance. Before settling down in North Carolina, Mr. Thomas spent the last decade much further down south in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. After graduating from Oak Grove High School, higher education was on the forefront of Dante’s mind, and there was no doubt that music was going to be his career of choice. For his junior and senior year of high school, he took weekly private lessons with Dr. John Wooton, who is the professor of percussion at The University of Southern Mississippi. The student-teacher bond built in these lessons is what solidified the decision of which college to attend and who to study with. Dante graduated from USM in 2020 with a Bachelor’s of Music in Music Education.
Dante currently works as a freelance musician and teacher in Winston-Salem and the surrounding areas.
Dante maintains a full plate and loaded schedule of both performance and teaching jobs. Detailing Teaching jobs, Mr. Thomas has been teaching private lessons at Separk Music for over 3 years and continues to do so. He also is the percussion coach for the Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestra. He also works as the percussion teacher for the Community Music School at UNCSA. Mr. Thomas also teaches private lessons in the Mt. Airy area as well and was the drumline instructor for Mount Airy during the 2023 season. Dante is also very fortunate enough to be able to work with his graduate professor, Mr. John Beck, as 1 of 2 percussion teachers with the P.L.A.Y. drumming music program, under the Winston-Salem Symphony. When it comes to performance jobs, Dante is a member of the Piedmont Wind Symphony, a substitute with the Winston-Salem and Greensboro Symphony, and a member of the Winston-Salem and Greensboro Percussion Trio. He also performs with various other groups and ensembles, such as the Wake Forest Gamelan Ensemble, the Wake Forest Wind Ensemble, The Civic Orchestra, and The Triad Area Medical Orchestra.
Dante’s a very well-rounded percussionist, playing a little bit of everything, but his main musical passion lies with jazz vibraphone and timpani. Dante started his jazz journey taking lessons with Malletech Omega team member, Tony Miceli, and since then has never looked back. While at UNCSA, Dante was a member of the jazz band and also a 6-piece jazz combo. This jazz combo was selected several times to play at events hosted by UNCSA and even played for the opening of a new exhibition at the local Reynolda House Museum of American Art. Other great accomplishes would be being featured on an episode of “Premier Stage at UNCSA” on PBS, and having played the principal percussion and timpani part for the ballet production of The Nutcracker.
