About

Thomas Victor Johnson is a vocal coach and pianist based on the unceded lands of the Eora people, where he is currently a repetiteur with Opera Australia and a vocal coach at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Between 2019 - 2023 he was on the music staff at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, where he also served as stellvertretender Chordirektor during the 2021/2022 season. He is a member of vioro.co and co-founded a concert series at Lobe Block.

Winner of the Richard Bonynge Accompanists Award at the 2018 Sydney International Song Prize, Thomas is in high demand as an insightful, refined and sympathetic collaborative artist. He is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he studied piano performance and accompaniment with Natalia Sheludiakova.

Thomas has worked with and played for conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Antonio Pappano, Simone Young AM, 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, Christian Badea, and Nicholas Milton.

Before moving to Berlin, Thomas worked at both state and national opera companies in Australia for 7 years. Between 2012 - 2016 he was the Assistant Chorus Master and Children’s Chorus Master at Opera Australia. In 2016, he was appointed Head of Music at West Australian Opera, where he managed the music and language staff, administered the young artist program, auditioned and prepared the chorus, coached principal artists, and designed and implemented new community engagement projects. In 2017 he was invited to join the adjudication panel of the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition. In 2019, Thomas was the recipient of a study scholarship from the Wagner Society of NSW.

In 2018, Thomas was re-engaged by Opera Australia as a solo répétiteur, where his season included Massenet’s Don Quichotte, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s Rigoletto, Puccini’s La Bohème, and Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia.

Thomas frequently performs in vocal and instrumental recitals, recordings, and radio broadcasts. He has performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, 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, Sydney Chamber Choir, as well as a guest appearance with cabaret artist Meow Meow.

He studied in masterclasses with pianists Stephen Hough, Mikhail Voskressensky, Gerard Willems, Ruth Nye, Andrew Ball, Marco Rapetti, Cristina Ortiz, and Iain Burnside.

Thomas Victor Johnson headshot portrait by Jeremy Knowles

Get in touch

  • I am open to coaching enquiries, and often collaborate with my friends at vioro.co, who offer consultancy services, audition preparation, and group sessions for opera singers.

    Reach out via email to make an enquiry.

  • I often play for recordings, and would be happy to hear from you if you have an idea you think I might be interested in.

    You can see some examples of my work here and here.

    Drop me an email to get started.

  • I maintain a regular performing schedule, specialising in playing for singers.

    For details about the Berlin song recital series I co-founded together with my husband Paull-Anthony Keightley, head on over to vioro.co/all-events