Andrew William Thomas (born October 8, 1939) is an American composer. He studied with

Karel Husa Karel Husa (August 7, 1921 – December 14, 2016) was a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Music and 1993 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. In 1954, he emigrated to ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, with

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

in Paris, and earned his M.M. and D.M.A. Degrees in Composition at The

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

. At Juilliard he studied with

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...

Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer who was one of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century. He combined elements of European modernism and American " ...

, and Otto Luening. Thomas teaches and was the chairman of the Composition Department at the Pre-College Division at Juilliard from 1969 to 1994. In 1994, the Juilliard School appointed him the Director of the Pre-College Division. In addition to composing, Dr. Thomas performs as a pianist, conductor, and is a guest teacher throughout the world. His many awards include a grant from The

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

and a Distinguished Teacher Citation from The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars.

Career

Although he has taught throughout the world, since 2000, Andrew Thomas has become a regular guest of the People's Republic of China. Under the auspices of the Chinese Government, Dr. Thomas performed his composition for solo piano, ''Music at Twilight'' in Hong Kong and

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

. He was the head western judge of a panel of pianists from all over the world judging the 2000 Chinese Works Piano Competition. In December 2001, Dr. Thomas went to

Nanning Nanning; is the capital of the Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China, southern China. It is known as the "Green City (绿城) " because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South of Guangxi, Nanning ...

, China to conduct his ''Three Scenes from the Summer Palace'' and other works, to perform as a pianist, and to teach master classes in composition. Dr. Thomas is now an Advisor of the Guangxi Arts College and a guest conductor of the Guangxi Arts College Youth Orchestra. He has returned yearly for further conducting and solo performances. He was honored as the main Western speaker at a conference of middle school administrators and government officials from all parts of China. In an effort to upgrade music education throughout China, Dr. Thomas developed a program which brought together music academies in an effort to advance all the students’ technical and artistic abilities in Western as well as

Asian music Asian music encompass numerous musical styles, traditions, and forms originating in Asian countries. Asian music traditions include: * ** Music of China ** Music of Hong Kong ** Music of Japan ** Traditional music of Korea *** Music of Nor ...

. In April 2004 he conducted the Shanghai Conservatory Youth Orchestra and the Nanning Symphony in a three concerto evening with student soloists from Shanghai,

and,

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

. He is currently composing a new evening length cross-cultural ballet, "Focus of the Heart" for the Chinese people with an original story written by his partner Howard Kessler. The score utilizes both full Traditional Chinese and Western orchestras. It was scheduled to be premiered Fall 2009 in Beijing. Since 2003 Dr. Thomas has lectured, taught, and performed in Korea at a

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

that he co-directed. This festival, The Seoul Music Festival and Academy brings together Western and Korean teachers to perform and to teach advanced String and Piano students. He conducted two programs with the Prime Symphony Orchestra, and one with the Suwon Philharmonic, then another program for the Korean Symphony Orchestra, including his concerto for marimba and orchestra, ''Loving Mad Tom'', all in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, Korea. On October 9, 2004, Dr. Andrew Thomas gave a piano recital in the Juilliard Theater at the Juilliard School celebrating his 65th birthday, 35 years teaching at the Juilliard School and ten years as its Pre-College director. After twelve years he stepped down from his administrative position in 2006 to concentrate on his composition works, to teach and to foster the musical talents of young international "Citizens of the World". At his farewell party Juilliard bestowed upon him the title of director emeritus.

Works

*''Loving Mad Tom'', a concerto for

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

and orchestra, commissioned by William Moersch, *''Merlin'' for solo marimba, commissioned by William Moersch, *''Three Transformations'' for duo marimbas, commissioned by

Nancy Zeltsman Nancy Zeltsman (born 1958) is an international marimba soloist who has taught at the Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music since 1993. Biography Zeltsman was born in 1958 in Morristown, New Jersey. In 1976, Zeltsman studied with Ever ...

, *''Consonanze Stravaganti'' commissioned by American Brass Quintet, *''The Heroic Triad'', concerto for guitar, percussion, and string orchestra composed for Twentieth Century Unlimited *''Wind'' for solo Marimba, composed for Makoto Nakura, *''For the class of 2003'' composed for

Renée Fleming Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano and actress, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nom ...

, *''Valse Triste'', a solo marimba work for Simon Boyar, *''Crane by the River Li'' for the Traditional Chinese Instrument Orchestra of the Guangxi Arts College in

, China, *''A Samba'' for two solo flutes, two flute choirs, and chamber orchestra, *''Music at Twilight'' for solo piano, *''Three Scenes from the Summer Palace''. Dr. Thomas has also orchestrated his music for lyricist, Gene Scheer‘s ''Lean Away'' and ‘I Just Found Another New Voice Teacher‘ for a

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

performance of ''

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original literary source for ' was ...

''.

Reviews

After

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, ...

conducted The

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families ...

in Dr. Thomas's marimba concerto, ''Loving Mad Tom'' with Evelyn Glennie as the soloist, Jürgen Otten of Der Tagespiel wrote "... his arsenal of romantic ghost music from Weber to

Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most pro ...

is recognized here, and sound-consciously conveyed into the modern idiom."

References

External links

American Composers AllianceAndrew Thomas Papers
at the

University of Maryland Libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library system in the Washington D.C.–Baltimore area. The system includes eight libraries: six are located on the University of Maryland, College Park, College Park campus, while ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Andrew 1939 births Living people American male composers 21st-century American composers Cornell University alumni Juilliard School alumni Juilliard School faculty 21st-century American male musicians