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) |
Meet Augusta Read Thomas! She's an amazing American composer, born on April 24, 1964. She teaches music at the University of Chicago and leads their Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition. Augusta is known for creating exciting and new musical pieces.
About Augusta Read Thomas
Augusta Read Thomas learned how to compose music from many talented teachers. She studied at places like the Tanglewood Music Center, Yale University, and the Royal Academy of Music in London.
She was a special fellow at Radcliffe College and Harvard University. From 1997 to 2006, she was the Mead Composer-in-Residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This was a very important job! During this time, she wrote nine new orchestral pieces for them. One of her pieces, Astral Canticle, was even a finalist for the famous Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2007. She also helped start the MusicNOW concert series.
Many groups and organizations have asked Augusta to write music for them. These include the Santa Fe Opera, the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Boston Symphony, and the BBC Proms. She is a very well-known and loved figure in American music.
Early Life and Learning
Augusta Read Thomas was born in 1964 in Glen Cove, New York.
In 2004, she was honored as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. This is a big achievement!
When she was only 23, Augusta received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1989. This award helps artists and scholars with their work. She was the youngest woman to ever receive this honor at that time.
Her Career in Music
After her Guggenheim Fellowship, Augusta Read Thomas started teaching at the Eastman School of Music.
In 2010, she became a University Professor of Composition at the University of Chicago. She was one of only 16 special professors chosen by the university. In 2018, she created the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition (CCCC) at the University of Chicago. This center helps new music grow and thrive.
In 2016, Augusta helped create and organize the Ear Taxi Festival in Chicago. This huge festival featured over 350 musicians and 88 composers. They performed 54 brand new pieces of music! Because of the festival's success, Chicago magazine named her "Chicagoan of the Year."
One of Augusta's recent big projects is an opera called Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun. It was first performed at the Santa Fe Opera in 2019.
