The music of Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964 in 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).
A composer featured on a Grammy winning CD by Chanticleer and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Thomas’ impressive body of works “embodies unbridled passion and fierce poetry” (American Academy of Arts and Letters). The New Yorker magazine called her "a true virtuoso composer." Championed by such luminaries as Barenboim, Rostropovich, Boulez, Eschenbach, Salonen, Maazel, Ozawa, and Knussen, she rose early to the top of her profession. The American Academy of Arts and Letters described Thomas as “one of the most recognizable and widely loved figures in American Music."
She is a University Professor of Composition in Music and the College at The University of Chicago. Thomas was the longest-serving Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for conductors Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez (1997-2006). This residency culminated in the premiere of Astral Canticle, 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, through which she commissioned and programmed the work of many living composers. For the 2017-2018 concert season, Thomas was the Composer-in-Residence with the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, while Francesco Lecce-Chong served as Music Director and Scott Freck as Executive Director. Thomas was MUSICALIVE Composer-in-Residence with the New Haven Symphony, a national residency program of The League of American Orchestras and Meet the Composer.
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. Thomas was named the 2016 Chicagoan of the Year.
In 2016, Augusta Read Thomas founded the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition, which is 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.
Not only is Thomas one of the most active composers in the world, but she is a long-standing, exemplary citizen with an extensive history of being deeply committed to her community. She is the former Chairperson for the American Music Center; Vice President for Music, The American Academy of Arts and Letters; and Member of the Conseil Musical de la Foundation Prince Pierre de Monaco.
In February 2015, music critic Edward Reichel wrote, "Augusta Read Thomas has secured for herself a permanent place in the pantheon of American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. She is without question one of the best and most important composers that this country has today. Her music has substance and depth and a sense of purpose. She has a lot to say and she knows how to say it — and say it in a way that is intelligent yet appealing and sophisticated."
Recent and upcoming commissions include those from the Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with the San Francisco Opera and 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, Tanglewood, The Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Boston Symphony, the Utah Symphony, Wigmore Hall in London, JACK quartet, Third Coast Percussion, Spektral Quartet, Chicago Philharmonic, Eugene Symphony, the Danish Chamber Players, Notre Dame University, Janet Sung, Lorelei Vocal Ensemble, and the Fromm Foundation.
Thomas has the distinction of having her work performed more frequently in 2013-2014 than any other living ASCAP composer, according to statistics from the performing rights organization (New York Times). Her discography includes 88 commercially recorded CDs.
Augusta Read Thomas' piece Dance Mobile (in memoriam Oliver Knussen) premiered in Chicago on October 1, 2022, and her piece Terpsichore's Box of Dreams premiered with the Grossman Ensemble on May 19, 2023.
Program notes:
Dance Mobile (in memoriam Oliver Knussen):
Music for me is an embrace of the world—a way to open myself up to being alive in the world in my body, in my sounds, and in my mind. I care deeply about musicality, imagination, craft, clarity, dimensionality, an elegant balance between material and form, and empathy with the performing musicians.
My works always spark and catch fire from spontaneous improvisations. It is music always in the act of becoming. I have a vivid sense that the process of the creative journey (rather than a predictable fixed point of arrival) is the essence. Poetry can give language to the ineffable. Music is, in an analogous way, akin to an infinite alphabet. Sounds can become like butterflies, hummingbirds, lights, rocks, trees, webs, gardens, and landscapes.
Three virtuosic dances, each lasting circa 4 minutes and 30 seconds, are, as if hanging on an Alexander Calder-like mobile, suspended so as to turn freely in the air; lively, sprightly, spry, energetic, vigorous; animated, traveling, flexible, versatile, changing, fluid, and on the move.
Organic and, at every level, concerned with transformations and connections, the carefully sculpted and fashioned musical materials of Dance Mobile are agile and spirited, and their flexibility allows pathways to braid harmonic, rhythmic, and contrapuntal elements that are constantly transformed—at times whimsical and light, at times jazzy, at times almost Stravinsky-ballet-like, at times layered and reverberating with resonance, pirouettes, fulcrum points, and effervescence.
Across Dance Mobile’s 14-minute duration, there unfolds a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the musicians of the Grossman Ensemble in a virtuosic display of rhythmic agility, counterpoint, skill, energy, dynamic and articulative range, precision, and teamwork.
Dance Mobile is to be performed with dancers when feasible and was commissioned and premiered by the Eastman School of Music in celebration of their 100th anniversary. Commissioning new art is a leap of faith, and as such, artists must always be deeply grateful to those who support the creation and realization of their life’s work.
Music’s eternal quality is its capacity for change, transformation, and renewal. No one composer, musical style, school of thought, technical practice, or historical period can claim a monopoly on music’s truths. I believe music feeds our souls. Unbreakable is the power of art to build community. Humanityhas and will always work together to further music’s flexible, diverse capacity and innate power.
Terpsichore's Box of Dreams:
Music for me is an embrace of the world, a way to open myself to being alive in the world — in my body, in my sounds, and in my mind. I care deeply about musicality, imagination, craft, clarity, dimensionality, an elegant balance between material and form, and empathy with the performing musicians as well as everyone who works in the presenting organizations.
I have placed a quote by Carlo Levi at the top of the first page of this new composition: “The future has an ancient heart.”
Leaping to my ear and mind is the related idea that the ancient has a future heart. In ancient Greek mythology, the muse Terpsichore — a daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne — is the goddess of dance and delight. With her in mind, I have sought to sculpt music that allows our individual and collective creative work to turn freely in the air. Terpsichore’s Box of Dreams is by turns lively, sprightly, spry, energetic, vigorous; it is animated, traveling, flexible, versatile, changing, fluid, and buoyant. While this is not exactly a “concerto for ensemble,” each of the thirteen musicians is featured in several soloistic, virtuosic passages. What will pop out of Terpsichore’s box next?
Although my music is meticulously notated in every detail, I like it to sound like it was being spontaneously invented. It is always in the act of becoming. I have a vivid sense that the process of the creative journey (rather than a predictable fixed point of arrival) is, for me, essential.
I dance while I compose, hoping that my music will feel organic and self-propelled. I work hard to ensure that my music too dances; I often create in my mind and ear imaginary flexible dances and ballets, poems, visual art, lighting, or animations, and I love virtuosic performances that percolate and spiral with natural musicality. My music must be alive, jumping off the page and out of the instrument as if something big is at stake.
This composition, which starts with Terpsichore’s entrance and ends with her departure, imagines the magic box that contains many things, including seven varied, colorful, dimensional dances: 1, Scatter; 2, Tiptoe Caper; 3, Pointillistic Groove Flutter Pirouettes; 4, Slalom; 5, Dream; 6, Gambol; 7, Romp. The form is a crescendo of instrumental expertise: throughout the seventeen-minute composition the brief dances become progressively more virtuosic. The longest dance is no. 5, Dream, which begins at the midpoint of the composition. Elegant, lyrical, and resonant, it concludes with an awakening-fromthe-slumber-of-dream at sunrise, with morning birds and running squirrels. Suddenly the sixth dance, Gambol, swirls forward. After a fifty-second interlude featuring solo violin, oboe, and clarinet, it leads to the irreversible escapade that is dance no. 7, Romp.
Organic and at every level concerned with transformations and connections, the carefully sculpted and fashioned musical materials are agile and spirited. Their flexibility allows pathways to braid harmonic, rhythmic, timbral, and contrapuntal elements which are constantly transformed — sometimes whimsical and light, sometimes jazzy, sometimes almost balletic, sometimes vaguely akin to lively and spirited music on a caffeine rush, sometimes layered and reverberating with overtly cantabile, melodic resonance, pirouettes, fulcrum points, and effervescence.
Terpsichore’s Box of Dreams unfolds a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the thirteen world-class musicians of the Grossman Ensemble. Here is a virtuosic display of rhythmic and timbral dexterity, counterpoint, skill, energy, dynamic and articulative range, precision, and teamwork. When feasible the composition is to be performed with dancers.
Collaborating with the Grossman Ensemble and Tim Weiss has been one of the most exhilarating experiences of my creative life. It is difficult to express how grateful I am to the many extraordinary colleagues who have made this relationship possible. It is pure magic — deeply rewarding, fun, and sincere. My special thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Grossman, Gay K. Stanek, the Music Department, Anne Robertson, David Levin, Phil Pierick, and the whole Logan Center Team, with particular applause for my friends David Baptista, Frank Gilbert, Bill Michel, Greg Redenius, and Sean Wills.
The UK premiere of Terpsichore’s Box of Dreams, performed by the London Sinfonietta conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni, will take place on 25 May 2023 in Queen Elizabeth Hall, in London’s Southbank Centre.