The International Conductors Guild is a 501c3 non profit organization whose purpose is to encourage and promote the highest standards in the art and profession of conducting.
Since 1988, the Conductors Guild has honored outstanding achievement in the conducting profession with the Theodore Thomas Award.
Recipients of the award include Claudio Abbado, Sir Georg Solti, Maurice Abravanel, Marin Alsop, Kurt Masur, Robert Shaw, Frederick Fennell, Pierre Boulez, David Zinman, Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
An informal meeting of conductors to discuss challenges facing the profession led to plans to form a professional organization.
Guild events have featured leading figures in the world of concert music, including Pierre Boulez, Catherine Comet, David Zinman, Leonard Slatkin, Chen Yi, Frederick Fennell, Norman Dello Joio, Gunther Schuller, James Levine, Ulysses Kay, Keith Lockhart, and Alan Gilbert,