Tom Tropp
PIANO RESTORATION
Dr. Tom Tropp enjoys a multifaceted music career as a conductor, musicologist, lecturer, and piano technician. He is also a Rendezvous Arts board member and our treasurer!
As a conductor, Tom's area of specialization is eighteenth-century sacred music. His energetic and engaging style has put him in high demand as a guest conductor and clinician, where he particularly enjoys working with choirs and orchestras wishing to gain experience in the historic performance practice of early music. He is a faculty member in the School of Music, Art, and Theater at North Park University in Chicago, as well as the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University in Evanston.
As a keyboard technician, Tom has a particular interest in vintage pianos and period instruments (harpsichord, chamber organ, fortepiano, etc.). He does some standard tuning and maintenance work but focuses primarily on reconditioning and restoration projects.
Tom holds the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, the Master of Music degree in conducting and historical musicology from The University of Arizona, and the Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University, where his dissertation, Cantaten in Musik gesetzt von W.A. Mozart: The Contrafacta Cantatas, K.Anh. 124-130, was the 2014 recipient of the American Choral Directors Association’s Julius Herford Dissertation Prize.