Augusta Read Thomas

The music of Augusta Read Thomas (b. April 24, 1964 in Glen Cove, New York) is nuanced, majestic, elegant, capricious, lyrical, and colorful — "it is boldly considered music that celebrates the sound of the instruments and reaffirms the vitality of orchestral music." (Philadelphia Inquirer)[2]

The Huffington Post[3] has said, "This is music that is always in motion, as if coming perpetually out of a magician's hat. It leads but does not direct, and is playful and subtle, dancing on light feet. It is music that conjures."

The New Yorker magazine[4] called her "a true virtuoso composer." Championed by such luminaries as Barenboim, Boulez, Rostropovich, Eschenbach, Maazel, Ozawa, Knussen, Ken-David Masur, William Boughton, Vimbayi Kaziboni, Thierry Fischer, Stilian Kirov, Cliff Colnot, Bradley Lubman, she rose early to the top of her profession. Thomas studied composition with Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood (1986, 1987, 1989); Jacob Druckman at Yale University (1988/1989); Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University (1983-1987); and at the Royal Academy of Music in London (1989). She was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University (1991-94), and a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe College (1990-91). Thomas was the longest-serving Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony, for Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez, from 1997 through 2006. This residency culminated in the premiere of Astral Canticle for solo flute, solo violin and orchestra, one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music. During her residency, Thomas not only premiered nine commissioned orchestral works, but was also central in establishing the thriving MusicNOW series.[5]

Thomas won the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, among many other coveted awards. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The New York Times article of March 6, 2015 states that Thomas had the distinction of having her work performed more frequently in 2013-2014 than any other living ASCAP[6] composer, according to statistics from the performing rights organization. Former Chairperson of the American Music Center, she serves on many boards, is a generous citizen in the profession at large, and, according to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, "has become one of the most recognizable and widely loved figures in American Music." Recent and upcoming commissions include those from the Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with the San Francisco Opera and several other opera companies, PEAK Performances at Montclair State University and the Martha Graham Dance Company,[7] The Cathedral Choral Society of Washington D.C,[8] The Indianapolis Symphony, Tanglewood, The Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra,[9] Des Moines Symphony, Boston Symphony, the Utah Symphony, Wigmore Hall in London, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir,[10] JACK quartet,[11] Third Coast Percussion,[12] Spektral Quartet,[13] Chicago Philharmonic,[14] Eugene Symphony,[15] the Danish Chamber Players,[16] Notre Dame University, Janet Sung,[17] and the Fromm Foundation.[18]

Augusta Read Thomas was born in 1964 in Glen Cove, New York. She is one of 10 children born to James A. Thomas and Susan N. Thomas (née Norton). Her mother was a kindergarten teacher for 30 years at the Green Vale School. Augusta attended St. Paul's School, a boarding high school in Concord, New Hampshire. Thomas began piano lessons at the age of 4, and her teacher would oftentimes assign her small composition projects on the side; Thomas has stated that these small projects sparked her interest in composing her own music. Thomas took up trumpet in the third grade.

After graduating from high school, Thomas enrolled as a music student (specializing in the trumpet performance) at Northwestern University in the fall of 1983. Though Northwestern's composition program is highly celebrated today, the program did not exist when Thomas was an undergraduate student. An exception was made for Thomas to pursue composition given that she showed extreme promise. As a , Augusta Read Thomas studied under notable faculty members and composers Alan Stout and M. William Karlins.

After graduating from Northwestern, Thomas went on to attend Yale University to pursue a master's degree in music composition. While at Yale, she studied under Pulitzer Prize winner Jacob Druckman. Thomas did not graduate from Yale, rather, she finished her master's degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London, being awarded the Degree of the Advanced Course. There, she studied with Paul Patterson, who is still a member of the school's faculty as the Manson Chair of Composition Faculty. Seven years after graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in London, Thomas was elected as one of its Associates (ARAM, honorary degree), and in 2004 was elected a Fellow (the highest honor they bestow) of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM, honorary degree). In 1998, she received the Distinguished Alumni Association Award from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. In 1999, she won the Award of Merit from the President of Northwestern University, and a year later received The Alumnae Award from Northwestern University.

Immediately after receiving her degree from the Royal Academy of Music, Thomas was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1989, at just 23 years old. She was the youngest woman recipient of the honor at the time.

In 1994, Augusta Read Thomas married the established British composer Bernard Rands, and in 1997, Russian-American cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the Boston Symphony Orchestra premiered cello concerti from both Thomas and Rands in Boston Symphony Hall and at Carnegie Hall. In a New York Times article about the unique performance, Paul Griffiths wrote that Thomas “had led the way [for the performance], introducing [Bernard Rands] to Mr. Rostropovich. Then, when the Boston Symphony asked Mr. Rostropovich what he would like for his 70th birthday, he said he wanted a new concerto, and wanted it from Mr. Rands”.

Shortly after the completion of her Guggenheim Fellowship, Augusta Read Thomas began teaching at the Eastman School of Music. She received tenure there at the age of 33. While at Eastman, Thomas was appointed as a Mead Composer in Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by conductors Pierre Boulez and Daniel Barenboim. She is the longest-serving Mead Composer in Residence, having held the title from 1997 through 2006. Her residency culminated in the premier of her work Astral Canticle in 2007, which was one of two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Music.

Shortly after receiving tenure at Eastman, Thomas returned to Chicago to teach at the Northwestern University School of Music until 2006.

In 2010, the University of Chicago announced that Augusta Read Thomas would be appointed University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music and the College. She is only the 16th designated professor to be appointed by the University. In 2018, it was announced that Thomas had created the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition[19] (abbreviated to CCCC) at the University of Chicago. The Center includes the Grossman Ensemble, underwritten by the Sanford J. Grossman Charitable Trust, which was designed to extend the legacy of the Contemporary Chamber Players. Thomas has stated that she “hoped to enrich the university's long and distinguished history in contemporary music” with creating the CCCC, which is still active and is currently in its third concert season.

In 2016, Augusta Read Thomas created and co-curated the Ear Taxi Festival,[20] which featured over 350 musicians, 88 composers, and 54 world premieres. The two-day festival took place in Chicago and was meant to celebrate the city's “vibrant and booming contemporary classical music scene”. The festival's success earned Thomas the title of “Chicagoan of the Year” by Chicago Magazine, and is set to return to the city in the future. For the 2014/2015 academic year, she is a Phi Beta Kappa Scholar. Augusta was MUSICALIVE Composer-in-Residence with the New Haven Symphony, a national residency program of The League of American Orchestras and Meet the Composer.

Augusta Read Thomas’ most recent works include an opera titled “Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun”[21] that premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 2019. The opera is meant for audiences of all ages and stars professional beatboxer Nicole Paris. Thomas co-wrote the piece with Leslie Dunton-Downer, a longtime collaborator of Thomas’ and a published writer and librettist. There are plans for the opera to tour around the United States in the near future.

Augusta Read Thomas currently resides in Chicago with her husband, teaching at the University of Chicago, Directing the Center for Contemporary Composition, and composing full-time.

The following is a list of her additional current titles:

· Founder and Director of The Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition · Vice President for Music, The American Academy of Arts and Letters · Member of the Board of Directors of The Koussevitzky Foundation · Member of the Board of Directors of The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.[22] · Member of the Board of Directors of the Alice M. Ditson Fund, Columbia University · Member of the Conseil Musical de la Foundation Prince Pierre de Monaco[23] · Member of the Board of Trustees, American Society for the Royal Academy of Music, London · Member of the Eastman National Council - Eastman School of Music's top leadership board · Member of the advisory board of Third Coast Percussion · Member of the advisory board of the Civitas Ensemble · Member of the advisory board of the Picosa Ensemble · Member of the Board of Directors, International Contemporary Ensemble, 2007- 2013 · Chair of the Board, American Music Center, 2005-2008 · Board Member, American Music Center, 2000-2011 · Envisioned, created, spearheaded EAR TAXI FESTIVAL, October 5- 10, 2016 in Chicago · Elected to Membership, The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2009 · Elected to Membership, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011 · Mead Composer-in-Residence, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1997-2006 · Curator and director of the Festival of Contemporary Music, Tanglewood Music Center, 2009

• She has been nominated for the 36th annual Chicago Music Awards in 2017.[24]
• Her 'Of Being is a Bird' CD awarded BBC Music Magazine 'Chamber Choice' in 2016.
• The Sovereign Prince of Monaco awarded Augusta CHEVALIER of the Order of Cultural Merit in 2015.
• Thomas won Lancaster Symphony Orchestra's Composer Award for the 2015-2016 season.
• Lincoln Academy of Illinois Awarded Order of Lincoln to Thomas in 2014.
• Ceremonial, for orchestra, was chosen as a Recommended Work at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in 2001.
• In 2001, Augusta Read Thomas received an Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, honoring lifetime achievement and acknowledging a composer who has arrived at his or her own voice.
• Thomas won the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2000.
• An album by Chanticleer called ‘Colors of Love’ featuring two works by Thomas won a Grammy in 2000.

• Thomas’ new opera, SWEET POTATO KICKS THE SUN, recently premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 2019 and was directed by John de los Santos, conducted by Carmen Flórez-Mansi who also serves as Youth Chorus Director. It will soon begin touring around the United States. Libretto by Leslie Dunton-Downer.

• FANFARE OF HOPE AND SOLIDARITY for orchestra premiered May 22, 2020 by the Utah Symphony, Thierry Fischer, conducting. During a period of mandatory social distancing, each musician performed from their home and the composition was edited together and premiered on YouTube as a video.

• SUN DANCE for orchestra in memoriam Oliver Knussen premieres October 2, 2020 by the Indianapolis Symphony, Krzysztof Urbański, conducting.

• THE AUDITIONS a ballet for chamber orchestra was commissioned and premiered by PEAK PERFORMANCES and Martha Graham Dance Company in 2019 with choreography by Troy Schumacher.

• BRIO for Orchestra was commissioned and premiered by the Des Moines Symphony in 2018.

• SONOROUS EARTH for percussion quartet and orchestra co-commissioned by The Chicago Philharmonic Society and Eugene Symphony Association premiered in 2017. Sonorous Earth is conceived as a cultural statement celebrating interdependence and commonality across all cultures; and as a musical statement celebrating the extraordinary beauty and diversity of expression inherent in bell sounds. Sonorous Earth can be heard and imagined as a United-Nations-of-Resonances.

• SELENE, MOON CHARIOT RITUALS for octet: percussion quartet and string quartet will be premiered by Jack Quartet and Third Coast Percussion on March 5, 2015 as part of a “portrait concert” at miller theatre of Columbia University. Co-commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center in honor of its 75th Anniversary Season, with generous support from Deborah and Philip Edmundson; and by Miller Theatre at Columbia University; and by Third Coast Percussion with the generous support of Sidney K. Robinson.

• HELIOS CHOROS, a triptych for orchestra (2006-2007) (title translation: Sun God Dancers) with a duration of 40 minutes: HELIOS CHOROS I, commissioned by the Dallas Symphony, was composed in 2006 and is dedicated with admiration and gratitude to Sir Andrew Davis, Victor Marshall, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and was premiered on 3 May 2007 by the Dallas Symphony, Sir Andrew Davis conducting; HELIOS CHOROS II, co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra, with the generous support of Mr. Martin Mellish and Ms. Harriett Eckstein, composed in 2007, received the LSO world premiere on 14 December 2008, Daniel Harding, conducting, and the BSO premiere on 15 October 2009, Ludovic Morlot, conducting; HELIOS CHOROS III, commissioned by the Orchestra of Paris, was composed in 2007 and is dedicated with admiration and gratitude to Christoph Eschenbach, was premiered on 12 December 2007 in Paris on a Festival curated by Pierre Boulez on which his music, plus the music of other composers of Mr. Boulez's choice, was featured.

• Thomas also founded the University of Chicago's Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition, a dynamic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary environment for the creation, performance and study of new music and for the advancement of the careers of emerging and established composers, performers, and scholars. Distinguished by its formation within an uncompromising, relentlessly searching, and ceaselessly innovative scholarly environment, which celebrates excellence and presents new possibilities for intellectual dialogue, the Center comprises ten integrated entities: annual concert series featuring the Grossman Ensemble, CHIME, visiting ensembles, distinguished guest composers, performances, recordings, research, student-led projects, workshops and postdoctoral fellowships.

• Additionally, Jennifer Kelly's upcoming book, "In Her Own Words: Conversations with Composers in the United States (New Perspectives on Gender in Music),"[25] features Thomas.

• Official Augusta Read Thomas website
• Augusta Read Thomas on the University of Chicago's website
• Augusta Read Thomas Nimbus Catalogue