I must have been 18 the first time I played for you. I never forgot the Matthew Passion that season. That music is seared in my brain. By the time you retired from MOB decades later, I realized how fortunate I had been to be in the company of greatness: first you, and then Carol Fox: individuals who created institutions that were the cultural lifeblood of our city, and the foundation of my career.
Your leadership was intensely personal. You were in the trenches with us…every rehearsal, every concert, every [string] bowing, every dynamic, every tempo… you embodied Music of the Baroque the same way Carol Fox embodied Lyric Opera.
Your legacy will live on for a great many years, in the city’s memory, in the hearts of the audience for baroque music that you built, and most especially by the people who worked with you and were trained by you. You brought the “new” way of playing baroque music to Chicago. Your influence informed every single piece of baroque music I ever played afterwards, and to this day, I can’t hear a piece of baroque music without imagining how you would have it played.
—Pete Labella, violinist
Lyric Opera of Chicago (1974-2020)
Music of the Baroque (1975-2003)
I began playing under your baton in the early 1980s, having just graduated from Northwestern. I will never forget how honored and proud I was to become part of this prestigious ensemble, and how patient you were with me as I got my wings.
MOB performances were among some of my most cherished musical moments. Your passion and leadership set the tone, providing a clear example of how Baroque music deserved to be performed. My 20 years in MOB most definitely contributed to my success as a performing musician in Chicago, and to this day I remember the style you so clearly inspired us to adhere to.
—Judi Zunamon Lewis, Oboist/English Hornist
Lyric Opera of Chicago, 2002-Present
Music of the Baroque, 1983-2003
I treasure the memories of singing with you at Church of the Ascension when I was just a young singer fresh out of school. I’m honored you heard something in me at that time and thought it was worth encouraging
—Bethany Hamilton Clearfield, soprano
Tom publicly posted a lovely comment about an epic Muti broadcast I did in late February of 2023. It was gracious and insightful and meant the world to me!
—Dennis Polkow, critic
A memory that still gives me gooseflesh was the opening Kyrie of the B minor Mass. This was my very first performance with MOB. I was overwhelmed by the sound of the solo-voiced chorus and the stellar orchestra in those dark, powerful chords of Bach. It was one of those moments when I felt lifted out of this sphere into a place of glory.
—Mark Sundberg, singer (bass) and pastor
Because of you, I was able to meet and perform with so many excellent vocal and instrumental musicians. To sing with you all was like having a lesson in musical excellence.I was very young when I joined the MOB Chorus. Tom brought out a specific sound and rhythmic innovation in our ensemble that no one else was doing. He had a deep knowledge and appreciation for early music. He was quite revolutionary in his approach and instilled great drama and excitement in his performances. His adherence to language was also a distinctive hallmark of his concerts. He insisted on using native-speaking language coaches and was meticulous about pronunciation. He was truly unique. He did things in his own way. I will miss him greatly.
—Jan Jarvis, baritone
Tom Wikman is directly responsible for us becoming "Barbara and Charlie." He began using us with MOB in 1975, and shortly after, began to feature us in many concerts, organ/trumpet recitals and tours including Boston, New York and Italy, where we performed at the Basilica S.Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, where Monteverdi is buried. Tom’s vision and leader as founder and conductor of MOB has lasted all these years. It was magic from the very beginning and we have never performed any MOB concert that wasn’t a proud and fulfilling success to us. Tom’s encouragement and support and the success of our concerts solidified our desire to work together, leading to us leave our orchestras and begin the Butler-Geyer Trumpet Studio at the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and Rice University. Tom and his wife Andrea became our Chicago family, and along with Dick and Judy Mintel, we spent many holidays and vacations together as best friends. Tom is the finest musician I know, the best organist I have ever heard, and is simply irreplaceable in our world. We love you Tom, thank you for everything.
—Barbara Butler & Charlie Geyer, trumpets
Very few current members of MoB will remember me (with the exception of Jan Jarvis.) I sang with Tom in the choir of the Church of St. Paul and the Redeemer, and then with MoB from its inception until I left Chicago for New York in 1981. Tom was my voice teacher and conductor, an enormous influence on my musical life and development. We were neighbours in Hyde Park. MoB was all-encompassing for many of us, certainly for me, and our lives revolved around it, with Tom at the centre. A very sad loss. I live in the United Kingdom, so I won’t be able to mark his passing in person, but I join in sending my condolences to all who knew him.
—Gershon Silins, baritone and cantor
My years working in the MOB office were among the most special in my life. Your performances blew my mind, and it seemed as if each production was more amazing than the last. MOB, as you formed and grew it, was beyond world-class. The concept you held for each performance, your relentless effort to bring it to fruition, the attention to every detail…The Chicago music scene was greatly, greatly blessed by MOB under your leadership.
Did I mention the Monteverdi Vespers? Sent me out of this world.
Because of you, I became wildly passionate about Baroque choral music and Bach cantatas. Most of what I played in my waning years an an oboist were Bach cantatas (and I had the great pleasure of playing Cantata 56 with Grace Lutheran Church’s Bach Cantata Series and baritone Doug Anderson).
—Jan Lohs
MOB Marketing and Communications Director 1981-1986
As a childhood family friend of his parents, Tom would come over to our house to hear our father Wesley Borgeson’s Heath kit sound system. We shared an early piano teacher who had very high standards. Seeing and hearing about Tom over the years was always special.
—Anne Erickson
I was one of the fortunate amateur singers who enjoyed his directorship of 20 years with The New Oratorio Singers (TNOS), which later morphed into Chicago Master Singers. My first concert under Tom's baton was February 10, 1980, at St. John's Church in far-away Johnsburg, IL. We sang there another four years, then at various northwest suburban venues, until claiming Techny as our home. I sang with the ensemble until 2001, enjoying being part of the huge sound produced by as many as 121 singers.
Tom bolstered our singers with members of his Music of the Baroque ensemble. We amateur singers at times were put off by his utilizing professionals. In the bigger picture, he used solid judgement, and the sound we produced with their assistance was superior to having only volunteer singers.
The New Oratorio Singers had the challenge and pleasure of performing such monumental works as Mendelssohn's Elijah, my favorite. Among other masterpieces we performed were Haydn's Creation, the requiems of Brahms, Verdi, Mozart, Bruckner, and 20th-century composer John Rutter.
—Pierce (Corky) White
Read Slipped Disc's tribute to Thomas Wikman (note link to interview with Bruce Duffie in the comments)
Read the Hyde Park Herald's tribute to Thomas Wikman
In all the years I attended Tom Wikman's Music of the Baroque concerts, I only heard him speak to the audience once. That was at a performance of Mozart's Requiem at the 53rd Street church in Hyde Park. He spoke to tell us why he chose Franz Xaver Sussmayr's completion instead of one of the more recent so-called musicologically informed versions. I had always been moved spiritually more by Sussmayr's version but could not figure out why. Tom explained that Sussmayr knew Mozart and was his pupil, but, more importantly was of the 18th century and approached his task of completing the work with an 18th-century sensibility, whereas later musicologists approached theirs with 20th-century sensibilities. This cannot be explained with words, but is an ineffable inner feeling. And this insight of Tom Wikman was an important step in my personal musical development which I will always remember.
—Sheldon Marcus
In 1994, Thomas Wikman was a guest choral conductor at Northwestern University while Dr. Robert Harris was on sabbatical. Wikman led my ensemble in a program that included Johannes Brahms’s Neue Liebeslieder-Walzer and the part-song Der Abend. I was only a sophomore voice major at the time, but I recognized that everyone in the choir was singing with our full voices AND blending AND phrasing together AND focusing on the German diction. It was a new experience in a choral setting for me which has rarely been duplicated in 30+ years of singing professionally.
—Oliver Camacho, tenor
I collaborated with the brilliant Thomas Wikman during two seasons at MOB. In 1985 I sang the role of Abner in Handel's Athalia. I returned in 1995 to sing the role of Seneca in Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea. Both were extremely well-done productions with world-class singers and some of the best in the Chicago area plucked out of his chorus to fill out the large cast in Poppea.
I know that our performances of Athalia led to my being invited in 1988 to debut with The Lyric Opera of Chicago, where I appeared in 128 performances of 12 productions. Thank you, Tom!!
After Athalia I saw Tom often when I was in Chicago. He and I would speak about singers we both admired and about the Garcia Method, which my mentor Margaret Harshaw had taught me and which Tom also embraced.
Tom belonged to that rare breed of conductors who do more than just keep everyone together on the podium. He collaborated with his artists to bring out the best in us. As a singer himself, he knew how to breathe the phrases with his singers and instrumentalists, and to shape the performance into an experience to savor long after the evening ended. Everyone I know who worked with him and his group wanted to return to perform repeatedly with him.
MOB was highly respected in our business as one of the best ensembles to perform with, thanks to Tom. I am so pleased the group continues to this day, adding to its legacy.
—Kevin Langan, bass
Tom and I were friends in Hyde Park. A few of his students and colleagues sang in my choir at Congregation Rodfei Zedek, and Tom himself subbed as a “bari-tenor” (his own designation) on occasion. I vividly remember introducing my new girlfriend to Tom in the spring of 1970. She became my wife until her death two years ago. Carolyn was of Finnish background, as was Tom. Tom sent his wife, a fine soprano who had attended North Park College, to me for rudimentary piano lessons. Although I played no role in the formation of Music of the Baroque, I was pleased that he launched the group and had colleagues who were members of the choir. Activities of MOB were also shared with me by my piano students, the Bobrinskoy family, who were members of the Church of St. Paul and the Redeemer and were supportive of MOB’s flourishing. I enjoyed many conversations about music with Tom, who was certainly not reticent about expressing his views. His musical integrity was daunting. Tom was born the same year as I. His passing is sobering and saddens me greatly.
—Gerald Rizzer
Founder & Director of The Chicago Ensemble
