Winner of the Richard Bonynge Accompanists Award at the 2018 Sydney International Song Prize, Thomas Victor Johnson is a vocal coach and pianist living on the unceded lands of the Gadigal people. Thomas currently works as a repetiteur with Opera Australia, is a staff vocal coach at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is a regular guest teacher at Te Pae Kōkako, The Aotearoa New Zealand Opera Studio (TANZOS) at the University of Waikato.
Thomas has worked with and played for conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Simone Young AM, Daniel Harding, Philippe Auguin, Pietari Inkinen, Thomas Guggeis, Speranza Scappucci, Massimo Zanetti, Renato Palumbo, Carlo Montanaro, Guillaume Tourniaire, Patrick Lange, Andrea Battistoni, Anthony Legge, Tom Woods, Maxime Pascal, Stuart Stratford, Giuseppe Montesano, Brad Cohen, Jonathan Darlington, Antony Walker, Kristiina Poska, Pietro Rizzo, Benjamin Northey, Tahu Matheson and Christian Badea.
Thomas was a music staff member at Staatsoper Unter den Linden from the 2018/2019 to 2022/2023 seasons, where he also served as stellvertretender Chordirektor during the 2021/2022 season. Prior to his time in Berlin, he worked as a solo repetiteur with Opera Australia after serving as the of Head of Music at West Australian Opera for a two-year term. During this time at WAO, Thomas managed the music and language staff, guided the Young Artist Program, auditioned and prepared the chorus, coached principal artists, and designed and implemented new community engagement projects. His career in opera began with his appointment to the role of Assistant Chorus Master and Children’s Chorus Master at Opera Australia in 2012.
He has performed in recital with singers including Nicole Car, Étienne Dupuis, Anna Kissjudit, Noa Beinart, Margaret Plummer and Bruno de Sá, and has worked with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Northern Ireland Opera, Sydney Philharmonia, Australian Youth Orchestra, Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir, Sydney Children's Choir, The Choir of Christ Church St Laurence Sydney, Bel A Cappella and Sydney Chamber Choir, as well as a guest appearance with cabaret artist Meow Meow.
Thomas is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he studied piano performance and accompaniment with Natalia Sheludiakova. He studied in masterclasses with pianists Stephen Hough, Mikhail Voskressensky, Gerard Willems, Ruth Nye, Andrew Ball, Marco Rapetti, Cristina Ortiz, and Iain Burnside. In 2019, Thomas was the recipient of a study scholarship from the Wagner Society of NSW.
Together with his husband Paull-Anthony Keightley, Thomas established the artistic collective vioro.co and co-founded an artsong series at Lobe Block.