Mr. Tom Breton joined the Chester County Youth Orchestra as Assistant Conductor in 1997 and was named Associate Conductor in 1999. An accomplished musician on the trombone, violin, cello, guitar, bass and piano, Mr. Breton is currently a member of the music department of the Downingtown Area School District, where he has been teaching as a string specialist since 1988.

After earning his undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College, Mr. Breton was awarded a Master of Fine Arts Degree in composition from Penn State University. Since then he has studied conducting with Jonathan Sternberg (Temple University), Terry Guidetti (West Chester University) Peter Sacco (Hartt School of Music) and Sandra Dackow (Hershey Symphony) and orchestration with Robert Maggio (West Chester University).

A violin student of Sylvia Ahramjian, Mr. Breton also studied violin with Ray Montoni and Tom DiSarlo. He studied cello with Mr. Eugene Klein, piano with Benjamin Whitten, and bass with Peter Paulson.

He has performed in several string quartets and in the Brandywine String Orchestra, West Chester University, Susquehanna University Festival and Immaculata Symphony Orchestras, and the pit orchestra of Neumann College, Octorara High School, and Three Little Bakers Dinner Theater. He also has accompanied his wife, Sherry Sheaffer Breton, who is a professional vocalist, in her recitals.

Mr. Breton has arranged numberous classical works for school groups and published a Dvorak arrangement, "Themes from Symphony #8" (Alfred Music Publishing Co.), which has been recorded and distributed internationally. He has assembled and directed a wide array of performing groups including several string quartets and numerous string orchestras. At Octorara and Twin Valley High Schools, he conducted performances of "Annie", "Plain and Fancy", "The Stingiest Man in Town", and "The Wizard of Oz". In March, he will be the guest conductor for the Berks County Elementary String Festival.

Mr. Breton resides in West Chester, PA with his wife, Sherry and their son Nathan, a pianist and videographer.

You can contact Mr. Breton by email.