Bradford Thompson

Biography

Bradford Marc Thompson is a vocal technician and proud alumnus of Valparaiso University, where he received a B.A. in church music in 2010. From there he went on to pursue a Master of Music from the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

Musical service and pedagogy has always been at the forefront of Thompson’s life and career. He began playing in his church at age 8, was church organist by age 11, and served as musical director while pursuing his undergraduate degree. Since 2015, he has held the title of director of music at Glen Ellyn, Illinois’ Grace Lutheran Church. Following graduate school, Thompson has taught at a number of private music schools in the greater Chicagoland area while running a vocal studio out of his home. An accomplished vocalist himself, Thompson has sung at Carnegie Hall, in the Princeton Festival and Cincinnati’s May Festival, and has performed as a soloist and rehearsal accompanist to the Columbus, Indiana Philharmonic Chorus.

While at the Jacobs School of Music, Thompson performed in some dozen I.U. productions, including lead roles in two beloved Verdi operas: as Caius in Falstaff and Gastone in La Traviata. Throughout that time he continuously honed his abilities as a teacher of voice and a coach for the stage. Notably, he studied vocal coaching under Kevin Murphy and received private voice lessons from Heidi Grant Murphy. Thompson has remained an active and distinguished artist, a freelance accompanist, and a composer, having recorded film and choral music commercially.