Augusta Read Thomas is an American composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Augusta Read Thomas was born in Glen Cove, New York

Glen Cove, New York

Glen Cove is a city in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 26,964....

. She attended The Green Vale School and later moved on to St. Paul's School

St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)

St. Paul's School is a highly selective college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The school is one of only six remaining 100% residential boarding schools in the U.S. The New Hampshire campus currently serves 533 students,...

 in Concord, New Hampshire

Concord, New Hampshire

The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....

, and then studied composition with Jacob Druckman

Jacob Druckman

Jacob Druckman was an American composer born in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de...

 at Yale University and at the Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy of Music

The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...

 with Paul Patterson

Paul Patterson

Paul Patterson is a British composer and Manson Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music.Patterson studied trombone and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. He returned there to become Head of Composition and Contemporary Music until 1997, when he became Manson Professor of...

, as well as with Alan Stout

Alan Stout (composer)

Alan Burrage Stout is an American composer of contemporary classical music.He studied at Johns Hopkins University and at the Peabody Conservatory. His instructors included Henry Cowell, Wallingford Riegger, John Verrall, and Vagn Holmboe, the latter at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark for...

 and M. William Karlins

M. William Karlins

Martin William Karlins was an American composer of contemporary classical music....

 at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

. She taught at the Eastman School of Music

Eastman School of Music

The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...

 and received tenure there at the age of only 33, but left to teach at the Northwestern University School of Music

Northwestern University School of Music

The Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, or Bienen School of Music, is an undergraduate and graduate institution devoted to musical performance and academics. Located on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Illinois, 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, the school was known as the...

. While still at Eastman, she was appointed Composer in Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...

, a post she retained until 2006, when she was succeeded by Osvaldo Golijov

Osvaldo Golijov

Osvaldo Noé Golijov is a Grammy award–winning composer of classical music.-Biography:Osvaldo Golijov was born in and grew up in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish family that had emigrated to Argentina in the 1920s from Romania and Russia.Golijov has developed a rich musical language, the result of...

 and Mark-Anthony Turnage

Mark-Anthony Turnage

Mark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...

. In 2006, Thomas resigned from teaching at Northwestern in order to compose exclusively. She is Chair of the Board of the American Music Center

American Music Center

The American Music Center is a non-profit organization which aims to promote the creating, performing, and enjoying new American music. The organization was founded in 1939 by composers Marion Bauer, Aaron Copland, Howard Hanson, Harrison Kerr, Otto Luening, and Quincy Porter.The organization has a...

, and lives in Chicago and Becket, Massachusetts. On November 8, 2010, the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 announced that she had been appointed University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music and the College.

Thomas's music avoids traditional models, such as sonata form, and traditional styles, such as folk song. One can hear the influence of jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 as well as that of composers such as Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...

 in her use of improvisatory-sounding rhythms and colorful harmonies.

An album by Chanticleer

Chanticleer

- Fiction :*A rooster appearing in fables about Reynard The Fox**The Nun's Priest's Tale, a version of Chanticleer and the Fox told in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales**By metonymy, any rooster**A character in the movie Rock-a-Doodle played by Glen Campbell...

 including her choral pieces "The Rub of Love" and "Love Songs" won a Grammy. Some of her other works are "Aurora", "Galaxy Dances", "Prayer Bells", "Words of the Sea", "Bells Ring Summer", "Silhouettes", "Purple Syllables", and "Ring Flourish Blaze".

Thomas is married to American composer Bernard Rands

Bernard Rands

Bernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...

.

Orchestral

• Cello Concerto - Vigil (1990), for cello solo & chamber orchestra
• Meditation (1990), concerto
  Concerto
  A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
  
   for trombone & orchestra
• Words of the Sea (1995)
• Violin Concerto - Spirit Musings (1997), for violin solo & chamber orchestra
• Concerto for Orchestra - Orbital Beacons (1998)
• Ceremonial (1999)
• Piano Concerto - Aurora (1999), for piano solo & orchestra
• Ritual Incantations (1999), concerto
  Concerto
  A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
  
   for cello solo, concertino group of flute, oboe & violin soli, & chamber orchestra
• Ring Out Wild Bells, to the Wild Sky (2000), for soprano solo, S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra
• Daylight Divine (2001), for soprano solo, children's choir & orchestra
• magnecticfireflies (2001), for concert band
• Prayer Bells (2001)
• Canticle Weaving (2002), concerto
  Concerto
  A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
  
   for trombone
• Chanting to Paradise (2002), for soprano solo, S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra
• Song in Sorrow (2002), for soprano solo, female-voice sextet, S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra
• Sunlight Echoes (2002), for S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra
• Trainwork (2002)
• Dancing Galaxy (2004), for concert band
• Galaxy Dances (2004)
• Gathering Paradise (2004), song-cycle for soprano & orchestra
• Silver Chants the Litanies (2004), concerto
  Concerto
  A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
  
   for horn & chamber orchestra
• Tangle (2004)
• Astral Canticle (2005), for double concerto
  Double concerto
  A double concerto is a concerto featuring two performers, as opposed to the usual single performer, in the solo role, whether these two performers' instruments are of the same type or different.The best-known double concerto is that written by J.S...
  
   violin, flute soli & orchestra
• Credences of Summer (2005)
• Shakin' (Homage to Elvis Presley and Igor Stravinsky) (2005)
• Prayer and Celebration (2006), for chamber orchestra
• Helios Choros I (2007)
• Helios Choros III (2007)
• Terpsichore's Dream (2007), for chamber orchestra
• Absolute Ocean (2008), for soprano, harp soli & chamber orchestra
• Dream Threads (2008)
• Helios Choros II (2008)
• Violin Concerto No. 3 - Juggler in Paradise (2008), for violin solo & orchestra
• Jubilee (2009)
• Of Paradise and Light (2010), for string orchestra
• Radiant Circles (2010)

Choral

• Alleluia (Midsummer Blaze) (1993), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir
• The Rub of Love (1995), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir
• Psalm 91: verse 11 (1996), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir
• Love Songs (1997), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir
• Ring Out Wild Bells, to the Wild Sky (2000), for soprano solo, S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra
• Daylight Divine (2001), for soprano solo, children's choir & orchestra
• Chanting to Paradise (2002), for soprano solo, S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra
• Song in Sorrow (2002), for soprano solo, female-voice sextet, S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra
• Sunlight Echoes (2002), for S.A.T.B. choir & orchestra
• Four Basho Settings (2003), for a cappella children's choir
• To the Rain (2003), for a cappella children's choir
• Fruit of my Spirit (2004), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir
• Purple Syllables (2004), for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir
• Prairie Sketches "...diamonds on orchid velvet..." (2004), for soprano solo, small choir & septet
• Berkshire Songs (2005), for a cappella children's choir or S.A.T.B. choir
• The Rewaking (2005), for a cappella T.T.B.B. choir
• Juggler of the Day (2007), for a cappella S.S.A.A. choir
• Roses (2008), for S.S.A.A. choir & piano
• Flash (2011), for S.A.T.B & orchestra

Chamber

• Chant (1991), for alto saxophone/cello/viola & piano
• Passion Prayers (1999), for cello solo & flute, clarinet, violin, piano, harp & percussion
• ...a circle around the sun... (2000), for piano trio
• Fugitive Star (2000), for string quartet
• Invocations (2000), for string quartet
• Ring Flourish Blaze (2000), for sixteen brass
• Eagle at Sunrise (2001), for string quartet
• Murmers in the Mist of Memory (2001), for eleven strings
• Rumi Settings (2001), for violin & cello
• In My Sky at Twilight (2002), song-cycle for soprano & large ensemble
• Light the First Light of Evening (2002), for large ensemble
• Rise Chanting (2002), for string quartet
• Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour (2004), for mezzo-soprano, tenor soli & large ensemble
• Whispers of Summer (2004), for three celli
• Carillon Sky (2005), for violin solo & large ensemble\
• Memory: Swells (2005), for two guitars
• Moon Jig (2005), for piano trio
• Angel Tears and Earth Prayers (2006), for trumpet & organ
• Dancing Helix Rituals (2006), for clarinet, violin & piano
• Silent Moon (2006), for violin & viola
• The Soul is Light (2006), for oboe, violin & harpsichord
• Toft Serenade (2006), for violin & piano
• Cantos for Slava (2007), for cello/viola & piano
• Scat (2007), for oboe, harpsichord, violin, viola & cello
• Scherzi Musicali (2007), for horn, two trumpets & trombone
• Squeeze (2007), for saxophone quartet
• Capricious Angels (2009), for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, three violins & viola
• Fête (2010), for brass ensemble
• Pilgrim Soul (2011), for cor Anglais & two violins

Vocal

• among dawn flowers (2001), for soprano & piano
• Bubble: Rainbow - (spirit level) (2003), for soprano solo & small ensemble
• Sun Songs (2004), for mezzo-soprano & three percussion

Solo Instrumental

• Incantation (1995), for violin
• Spring Song (1995), for cello
• Bells Ring Summer (2000), for cello
• Aspen Starry Night Prayer Chords (2001), for piano
• Incantation (2002), for viola
• Pulsar (2002), for violin
• Rush (2004), for violin
• Silhouettes (2004), for marimba
• Caprice (2005), for violin
• D(i)agon(als) (2005), for clarinet
• Pulsar (2006), for viola
• Six Etudes (2006), for piano
• Traces (2006), for piano
• Eurythmy Etudes (2007), for piano
• Love Twitters (2007), for piano
• Bells (2008), for piano duet
• Euterpe's Caprice (2008), for flute
• Lake Reflecting Stars with Moonrise (2008), for saxophone or cello
• Aureole (2009), for violin
• Cirque (2009), for piano
• Dream Catcher (2009), for violin or viola

External links

• Official Augusta Read Thomas website