Composers
Augusta Read Thomas
© Michael Lutch
Born: 1964
Brief Biography:
Augusta Read Thomas' deeply personal music is guided by her particular sense of musical form, rhythm, timbre, and harmony. But given this individuality, her music is affected by history — in Thomas' words, "Old music deserves new music and new music needs old music." For Thomas, this means cherishing her place within the musical tradition and giving credit to those who have forged the musical paths she follows and from which she innovates. Thomas was the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from May 1997 through June 2006, a residency that encompassed nine world premieres, culminating in the premiere of Astral Canticle — one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music.For a complete biography, click here.
Key Works:- Words of the Sea
(1995-96; orchestra) - Ritual Incantations
(1999; cello, chamber orchestra) - Sun Threads
(1999-2002; string quartet) - In My Sky at Twilight
(2002; soprano, ensemble) - Astral Canticle
(2005; violin, flute, orchestra) - Helios Choros I-III
(2007-08; orchestra) - Violin Concerto No. 3
(2008; violin, orchestra)
| Career Highlights:- 1997-2006 Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- 2000 Awarded sponsorship prize by the Ernst von Siemens Foundation
- 2001 Appointed Professor of Composition at Northwestern University
- 2008 Released the fifth self-produced recording on the composer's record label which includes Terpsichore's Dream
- 2008-09 Premieres by the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, Radio France and BBC Proms
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Critical Acclaim:
Augusta Read Thomas writes precisely calibrated music of refined beauty.
— Boston Globe
Thomas' music, particularly her orchestral music, fairly explodes with an extroverted boldness of utterance audiences and musicians alike find challenging yet immediate. It’s music that doesn’t sound like anybody else's — music that insists you pay attention.
— Chicago Tribune
...boldly considered music that celebrates the sound of the instruments and reaffirms the vitality of orchestral music
— Philadelphia Inquirer
Full Biography:
"Heart and soul in the breathtaking music of a thoughtful contemporary composer...reveals a lively, probing mind allied to a beating heart."
— Donald Rosenberg, Gramophone Magazine
"Augusta Read Thomas's music mixes extraordinary clarity and elegance with a bold resonant vitality. Its inventiveness, its lyric turns seem almost magically sustained; and, unfailingly, result in a beautiful immediacy."
— American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters The music of Augusta Read Thomas is majestic, it is elegant, it is lyrical, it is "boldly considered music that celebrates the sound of the instruments and reaffirms the vitality of orchestral music" (Philadelphia Inquirer). Her deeply personal music is guided by her particular sense of musical form, rhythm, timbre, and harmony. But given this individuality, her music is affected by history — in Thomas's words, "Old music deserves new music and new music needs old music." For Thomas, this means cherishing her place within the musical tradition and giving credit to those who have forged the musical paths she follows and from which she innovates. "You can hear the perfumes of my metaphorical grandparents," Thomas states. "There is a wonderful tradition that I adore, I understand, and care about, but I have my two feet facing forward." Thomas's vision toward the future, her understanding of the present, and her respect for the past is evident in her art. Most striking in her music, though, is its exquisite humanity and poetry of the soul. The notion that music takes over where words cease is hardly more true than in her musical voice.
Born in Glen Cove, New York, Thomas was the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from May 1997 through June 2006, a residency that culminated in the premiere of Astral Canticle — one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music. During her residency with the CSO, under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, Thomas not only premiered nine commissioned works, but also founded, along with Cliff Colnot, and curated the MusicNOW series. In addition to Barenboim, Thomas's music has been championed by other leading conductors including Pierre Boulez, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Oliver Knussen, Seiji Ozawa, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, David Robertson, and Christoph Eschenbach. As well, her music has been commissioned by leading ensembles and organizations around the world including: Houston Symphony — Absolute Ocean; Chanticleer — Love Songs; NDR (German Radio) Orchestra — Chanting to Paradise; Cleveland Orchestra — Song in Sorrow; Chicago Symphony — Orbital Beacons, Aurora, In My Sky At Twilight, Ceremonial, Carillon Sky, Words of the Sea, Trainwork, Tangle, and Astral Canticle; Pittsburgh Symphony — Prayer Bells; La Jolla Chamber Music Society — Bells Ring Summer; National Symphony — Cello Concerto, Galaxy Dances; Radio France and the BBC Proms — Violin Concerto; Dallas Symphony — Helios Choros I; London Symphony and Boston Symphony — Helios Choros II; Orchestre de Paris — Helios Choros III; BBC — Pulsar; Utah Symphony — Terpsichore's Dream; Los Angeles Philharmonic — Canticle Weaving; and ASCAP Foundation — Cantos for Slava.
Thomas was an assistant then associate professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music from 1993-2001, and from 2001 until 2006 was the Wyatt Professor of Music (Endowed Chair) at Northwestern University. She currently continues her involvement with Northwestern University by serving on the Dean's Music Advisory Board. In the summers she often teaches at the Tanglewood Music Center. Thomas was the Director of the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood in 2009. She frequently undertakes residencies in colleges, universities, and festivals across the country and in Europe. From time to time she teaches private composition lessons for advanced students. A passionate and devoted teacher, she writes, "Teaching is a natural extension of my creative process and of my enthusiasm for the music of others. Working with students is a joy, a deeply felt commitment, part of my creative existence."
Thomas studied composition with Jacob Druckman at Yale University, with Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University, and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University (1991-94) and a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe College (1990-91), and often teaches composition at Tanglewood. Thomas has also been on the Board of Directors of the American Music Center since 2000, as well as on the boards and advisory boards of several chamber music groups. Recently she was elected Chair of the Board of the American Music Center, a volunteer position that runs from 2005 to 2008.
In addition to the numerous commercial recordings of her music available on major record labels, Thomas has released five of her own albums independently.
Her music is published exclusively by G. Schirmer.
— September 2009
For specific inquiries about this composer, please contact Katy Tucker at katy.tucker(at)schirmer.com or (212) 254-2100 ext. 134.
External Websites
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