Thomas Fulton attended the University of Tennessee before entering Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1971, where he studied with Max Rudolph and David Effron and also worked with Eugene Ormandy. He joined the Curtis faculty after graduation. He made his professional conducting debut in 1976 with the San Francisco Opera. He joined the Metropolitan Opera as assistant conductor in 1978 and made his official debut there in 1981. He conducted more than 20 operas for the Metropolitan Opera Company, of which several (perhaps most notably Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel) were recorded. He also conducted the Orchestra National de France and the orchestras of the Paris Opera and other houses in France and Germany. He died in August 1994 of kidney failure while vacationing in Milan, Italy.