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augusta read thomas Read Thomas (b. 1964 in New York), formerly an Associate Professor on the composition faculty at the Eastman School of Music, is currently a Professor of Music at Northwestern University. She is also Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra until 2006. She studied at Northwestern University, with Alan Stout and Bill Karlins; Yale University, with Jacob Druckman; and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Recent premieres for Thomas have included Prayer Bells, a commission for the Pittsburgh Symphony (May 2001) to receive its West Coast premiere this summer at the Cabrillo Festival; Daylight Divine for soprano, children's chorus and orchestra, commissioned by John Nelson and Soli Deo Gloria (Paris, June 2001); Basho Settings with soprano Barbara Ann Martin at the festival of "The Arts Association of March 1985" (Denmark, January 2001); Aurora: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, co-commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony, premiered with Daniel Barenboim as pianist and conductor (Berlin, June 2000); Ceremonial, commissioned and premiered by the Chicago Symphony, Daniel Barenboim conducting (January 2000); and Song in Sorrow for orchestra and chorus, commissioned and premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra (June 2000 and March 2002). Sunlight Echoes, set to a text by Emily Dickinson and commissioned and premiered by the Chicago Youth Symphony and Childrens' Choir, in Carnegie Hall, February 2002. Conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Hans Vonk, Leonard Slatkin, Mariss Jansons, Gerard Schwarz, Christoph Eschenbach, Oliver Knussen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Dennis Russell Davies, Hugh Wolff, John Nelson, Jahja Ling, Keith Lockhart, Lawrence Leighton Smith, George Manahan, Jac Van Steen, and Grant Llewellyn have programmed her work. Thomas' orchestral works have been performed by the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seattle Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, the ORF Radio Symphony in Vienna, and the Residentie Orkest of The Hague in Holland, among many others. Chamber music works have been performed by the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Chanticleer, Caramoor Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Players, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella Series, the Network for New Music, the Eroica Trio, Contemporary Chamber Players at the University of Chicago, and the Indiana State University Contemporary Ensemble, as well as individual soloists and numerous additional ensembles. Other compositions by Thomas include Words of the Sea, commissioned and premiered by the Chicago Symphony, Pierre Boulez conducting; Concerto For Orchestra - Orbital Beacons, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony and premiered with Pierre Boulez conducting; Ritual Incantations, a cello concerto for cellist David Finckel commissioned by Thomas van Straaten with the Aspen Music Festival for premiere during its fiftieth anniversary season, Hugh Wolff conducting; Invocations, commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival for the Miami String Quartet with funding from Chamber Music America; Ring Out Wild Bells to the Wild Sky for solo soprano, chorus and orchestra, commissioned and premiered by the Washington Choral Arts Society; and Fugitive Star for string quartet, commissioned by the Caramoor Chamber Music Festival for the Avalon String Quartet. Other honors have come from: The Siemens Foundation in Munich (2000); ASCAP, BMI, the National Endowment for the Arts (1994, 1992, 1988), American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (2001, 1994, 1989), the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Koussevitzky Foundation (1999), New York Foundation for the Arts (1998), the John W. Hechinger Foundation, the Kate Neal Kinley Foundation, The Debussy Trio Music Foundation and Thomas van Straaten, Columbia University (Bearns Prize), the Naumburg Foundation, the Fromm Foundation (1996, 1992), the Barlow Endowment, Harriett Eckstein, Chamber Music America, the French International Competition of Henri Dutilleux, New York State Council for the Arts, the Massachusetts Artists Fellowship Program, the Indiana State University Orchestral Music Prize, and the federal Office of Copyrights and Patents (the Third Century Award). Thomas has been awarded fellowships from the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, the Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio), International Rotary Foundation, L'Ecole Normal in Fountainbleau, France, Tanglewood Music Center, Gaudeamus Foundation, Wellesley Composers Conference, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Aspen Music Festival and, twice, to the June in Buffalo festival. She was a Junior Fellow in the highly prestigious Society of Fellows at Harvard University between 1991 and 1994. Thomas' work has been featured on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," as well as on Minnesota Public Radio's "The Composer's Voice." She was a Master Artist, leading a three-week composition program at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and was twice a featured artist in a one-week program at the Conductor's Institute. Thomas frequently undertakes short-term residencies in colleges and universities across the country. Augusta Read Thomas' music is recorded on Teldec, CRI, Albany, GM Recordings, BIS, Gasparo, Centaur, Louisville Orchestra, 4-TAY, and Open Loop, and is published exclusively by G. Schirmer, Inc.
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