Bruce Thornton

Dr. Bruce Thornton is an Associate Professor of Music at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University. He also serves as a clarinet and saxophone artist/clinician for the Conn/Selmer Company. Dr. Thornton appears frequently as guest conductor, clinician, and soloist, and most recently was a guest soloist with the University of Notre Dame Concert Band at Carnegie Hall. He leads an active career as a free-lance professional musician in the Twin-Cities area, including recent performances with Barry Manilow, Olivia Newton John, Bobby Caldwell, Johnny Mathis, Marvin Hamlisch, and Bernadette Peters, groups such as Kansas, the Four Tops, and the Spinners, as well as numerous Broadway musicals at the Ordway, State, Guthrie, and Orpheum Theaters in the Twin Cities. He has also performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, North Star Opera, JazzMN, and the Plymouth Music Series. He has a deep interest in Klezmer and Bulgarian music and has performed with the group Klezmerica in New York, Miami, and Israel. He also performs with Leisure Valley (jazz quartet), JC Sanford’s Triocracy, and the Thornton Jazz Quartet.  With Leisure Valley, he recently released a CD of his own compositions entitled “Welcome to the Valley.”