Thomas Wilkins has been music director of the Omaha Symphony since 2005, is principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and is his 10th season as resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony.

What he wants now is to replace David Loebel as conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

Wilkins leads Friday night's chamber music concert with a program titled “In Other Words.”

“It’s a look at how more recent composers look back at older composers or styles to reference or synthesize their styles,” Wilkins said in a recent telephone interview.

The Paul and Linnea Bert Fridays on the Town Series concert begins with Beethoven and ends with Haydn as the two classical music anchors.

In between are works by Stravinsky, Hindemith and Antheil that cherish the past by drawing inspiration from what’s been done before.

Wilkins is one of three candidates for the job. The others are Mei-Ann Chen, assistant conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Alastair Willis, former associate conductor of the Seattle Symphony. Willis led the MSO in his debut last month. Chen will make her first appearance in coming weeks.

There are a number of reasons that Wilkins applied for the Memphis job, but a key one is, as he put it in a recent telephone interview, “It’s an orchestra with a social conscience. It wants to be in the business of doing concerts for sure, but to also (work) alongside various entities in the community and improve the quality of life in the community.”

His impression of Memphis’ potential fuels his belief of what can be done. “One thing that piqued my interest is that Memphis is a city of music,” he said. “I remember checking into the hotel and seeing all this musical artwork on the wall and was immediately reminded that music is not a second class citizen in Memphis. The orchestra needs to capitalize on that mentality. All the pieces of the puzzle are in place because of the rich musical heritage in Memphis.”

Wilkins cites his track record to show what he’d bring to town.

“In Omaha, I instituted a culture of expectations. When we walk into the building to make music, there is this expectation to do it to the very best of our ability and with the highest artistic standards.”

The orchestra also has diverse partnerships, including with the local housing authority, Girls Inc., medical centers and schools.

Along with that is an emphasis on versatility. “We have the ability to play Beethoven one night and the music of Styx the next night. Or to play Beethoven one night and Bernstein the next night.”

And that leads to his passion for Americanizing the American orchestra.

“I am not interested anymore in apologizing for us being Americans,” he said. “Tchaikovsky never apologized for using folk music, for using the popular music of the people in his compositions. He knew that was one way the music was going to have its grandest appeal.”

Wilkins observes that the tradition here of performing European classical music has led to a feeling that American music is somehow not up to standard. “That’s just wrong,” he said. “I want to cover the gamut. Not only do I want to do pop music that is extremely well done but I want to do popular American music that embraces our American-ness. And I want to do it on the classic music concert stage.”

Wilkins, 53, is among only a handful of African-Americans conducting large orchestras and he is acutely aware of being a role model.

“When I’m standing in front of an orchestra, whether the Philadelphia Orchestra or the Norfolk, Va., community orchestra, I’m only thinking about the music. I’m not thinking about what the musicians think of me or what they see when they look at me. Only the music, and that just comes with age — it’s a maturity issue.”

But he says that on a larger scale, he is particularly aware of young people who see him on the podium.

“It plants another picture in their head of what possibility looks like,” Wilkins said. “I was a kid who was born in a housing project to a single mother on welfare. I fell in love with classical music. I’m the poster child for the value of arts in education and the value of having a live orchestra in the community, so I want to capitalize on that.”

Chuckling, he added: “As they say, I have street cred because of my background, so I take advantage of that whenever I can. But when it comes to making music, for me it’s only about making music.”

Along with his commitment to partnering with the community and bringing an emphasis to American music, Wilkins also wants to boost new music.

The Omaha orchestra commissions a new work every year, and offers a series of workshops for new composers.

“We have a call for scores and get a master composer to come in,” Wilkins says. Four scores are chosen and Wilkins’ chamber orchestra works with the composers to rehearse and refine the work, ending with a public performance.

“That’s another way to educate and remind the public that classical composition is an ongoing thing in our lifetime, that’s it’s not just the property of several dead Europeans,” he says.

If Wilkins is hired to lead the MSO, he’s confident he’ll like his stay here even beyond the musical challenge. He says he and his wife of 24 years Sheri-Lee (they have twin 17-year-old daughters) “are big old-neighborhood-with-sidewalks and old-growth-trees kind of people so I was struck by that beauty here.”

And of course, there’s the beauty of barbecue.

“I am always struck by the smell in the airport. You smell the barbecue the minute you get off off the plane, and I always partake. I have actually flown through Memphis, grabbed the barbecue sandwich and run down the concourse eating it so I could make my connection.”

Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s “In Other Words”

MSO’s Paul and Linnea Bert Fridays on the Town chamber music series event featuring guest conductor Thomas Wilkins. Friday at 8 p.m. at Buckman Performing and Fine Arts Center, 60 Perkins Ext. Tickets: $45. Call 537-2525 or go to memphissymphony.org.

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