The Trustees of IT&T are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Geoffrey Thomas, President Emeritus of Kellogg College, as the ensemble’s next chairman. Geoffrey writes:

This is my first note to you as incoming Chair of IT&T, a position I am honoured and flattered to have been appointed to. The orchestra was very fortunate in its previous Chair, my long-standing friend and colleague, Professor Angus Hawkins, whose untimely death came as such a shock to us all. Under his Chairmanship, IT&T grew in accomplishment and ambition, and I hope that I and the other Trustees can help maintain that record.

All of us as Friends, supporters and admirers can take great pride in IT&T, and we owe a great debt of gratitude to Gay and Judith for having the vision to establish the orchestra in the first place. It has meant that we are able to enjoy the artistry of amazing musicians, and hear world-class performances of cherished works and newly-researched gems. Our good fortune is based in large measure on the brilliant directors the orchestra has attracted, especially Chris Bucknall, Bojan Cicic, and the peerless Edward Higginbottom, each internationally-acclaimed and bringing inspiration and sparkle to IT&T.

I have been a Friend of IT&T from its early days, and when I tell friends in other parts of the world about it, they are envious, and rightly so. We must never forget how lucky we are in having IT&T available to us – it is a rare and precious privilege.

As for so many organisations, this has been a difficult year for the orchestra and its members, with marvellous planned-for performances having had to be cancelled or postponed. But I can assure you that everyone is in good heart, and excited about future performance plans, even though we can't at this stage be sure of exact timings, of course.

Our planned education programmes are also suitably ambitious. They will, I’m certain, inspire young people from all backgrounds to develop their own talents and love for good music, especially period performances, which is the orchestra’s unique strength.

It will be such a pleasure when we will be able to meet - Friends, supporters, and musicians – in person. Roll on that day!

Geoffrey Thomas

March 2021

Dr Geoffrey Thomas was until his retirement Director of the Department for Continuing Education (Rewley House), and Founding President of Kellogg College, Oxford. He holds degrees from Wales, Cambridge, and Oxford, and a number of Honorary Fellowships, including those from Linacre College, and Kellogg College, Oxford. His original discipline was physics, and he has also published in the fields of Lifelong, and the Public Understanding of Science. He has held visiting positions at universities including Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley, and at the Smithsonian Institution. Geoffrey Thomas was brought up in a musical family in South Wales, immersed in opera, oratorio and, inevitably, choral singing. He admits to having been an enthusiastic, if undistinguished, cellist in his younger days.