Augusta Read Thomas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Augusta Read Thomas
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Augusta Thomas in 2020
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| Born | April 24, 1964 Glen Cove, New York, U.S.
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| Occupation | Composer |
| Spouse(s) |
Bernard Rands
(m. 1994) |
Augusta Read Thomas (born April 24, 1964) is an American composer and University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music at the University of Chicago, where she is also director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition.
Biography
Thomas studied composition with Oliver Knussen at the Tanglewood Music Center; Jacob Druckman at Yale University; Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University; and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She was a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe College in 1990–91 and a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University from 1991 to 1994. Thomas was the longest-serving Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, from 1997 to 2006. This residency culminated in the premiere of Astral Canticle for solo flute, solo violin, and orchestra, a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music. During her residency, Thomas premiered nine commissioned orchestral works and helped establish the MusicNOW series.
A former chairperson of the American Music Center, she is on many boards and, according to Wise Music Classical, "has become one of the most recognizable and widely loved figures in American music."
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, The Cathedral Choral Society of Washington, D.C., the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Festival, BBC Proms, Diotima Quartet and The Philharmonie of Paris, Sejong Soloists, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Boston Symphony, Utah Symphony, Wigmore Hall in London, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, JACK quartet, Third Coast Percussion, Spektral Quartet, Chicago Philharmonic, Eugene Symphony, the Danish Chamber Players, Notre Dame University, Janet Sung, and the Fromm Foundation.
Early life and education (1964–1989)
Thomas was born in 1964 in Glen Cove, New York.
In 2004 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
Immediately after receiving her degree from the Royal Academy of Music, Thomas was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1989. At 23, she was the youngest woman recipient of the honor at the time.
Career
Shortly after completing her Guggenheim Fellowship, Thomas began teaching at the Eastman School of Music.
In 2010, the University of Chicago announced Thomas's appointment as University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music and the college. She is the 16th designated professor appointed by the university. In 2018, it was announced that Thomas had created the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition (CCCC) at the University of Chicago.
In 2016, Thomas created and co-curated the Ear Taxi Festival, which included over 350 musicians, 88 composers, and 54 world premieres. The two-day festival took place in Chicago. The festival's success earned Thomas the title "Chicagoan of the Year" from Chicago magazine.
Thomas's recent works include an opera, Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun, that premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 2019.
