Janet Owen Thomas facts for kids

Janet Owen Thomas was a talented British composer and organist. She was born on January 29, 1961, and passed away on June 5, 2002.

Early Life and Learning

Janet Owen Thomas was born in Merseyside, England. Her family had roots in Wales and Germany. She went to Merchant Taylors' Girls' School in Liverpool. Later, she studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford. There, she learned from important musicians like organist James Dalton and composer Robert Saxton.

She received a special scholarship to study in Hamburg. For a short time, she learned from the famous composer György Ligeti. She even wrote an article about his organ music later on. While in Hamburg, she was asked to write a piece for solo organ called Rosaces (1984). This piece became very popular and was played often. It was also published by Novello.

Career and Music

After returning to England, Janet Owen Thomas worked as a composer, organist, and teacher in the 1980s. In 1988, she was asked to write a new piece for the opening of the Tate Gallery in Liverpool. This work was called New and Better Days. It used words from the Book of Isaiah and by Boris Pasternak. It was written for a choir, organ, and trumpet.

The success of New and Better Days made her want to focus more on composing. In 1990, she went back to school at the University of York. There, she studied Music technology. She also explored her interests in algorithmic composition (music created by rules), fractals (complex patterns), and astronomy (the study of space). She developed this interest after visiting India. She then continued her advanced music studies with Anthony Gilbert at the Royal Northern College of Music.

In 1991, her piece Rosaces had its first performance in the UK at the BBC Proms. Janet Owen Thomas was the youngest composer featured at the festival that year. Rosaces was later performed in more than a dozen countries around the world.

During the 1990s, she lived and worked in York. She continued to compose and teach at The Minster School, York. She also taught at the Department of Music at the University of Huddersfield. As her health declined, she performed less often.

Janet Owen Thomas found inspiration for her music in the writings of many authors. These included Verlaine, Gerard Manley-Hopkins, Wendy Cope, and Dylan Thomas. She used their words in her musical pieces. She had planned to write an opera based on Racine's play Phèdre. However, she was unable to start this project before she passed away.

Her music was requested and performed by many groups and musicians. These included the Goldberg Ensemble, the Allegri String Quartet, the Bingham String Quartet, Gemini, Lontano, and Boccherini String Trio. The soprano Mary Wiegold and organist Kevin Bowyer also performed her works.

Her biggest work was Under the Skin (1999). The BBC asked her to write this large piece for the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. It included words from Dylan Thomas's poem "Do not go gentle into that good night". It also used the theme of the ancient hymn Dies irae.

Musical Style

Another composer, Nicola LeFanu, described Janet Owen Thomas's music. She said that a key part of her style was linear counterpoint. This means her music had many independent melodic lines that worked together. Her pieces were carefully built with repeating patterns, both in big sections and in small details.

Janet Owen Thomas herself said that music from the 17th and 18th centuries influenced her. She played a lot of this older music when she was an organist. However, she added her own touch to these older styles. She loved to create a "shimmer and glitter" effect in her music.

Passing Away

Janet Owen Thomas passed away at the age of 41. At that time, she was working on a new piece for organ, but it was not finished. An article in The Times newspaper said that her passing meant "contemporary British music has lost one of its most promising creative talents." It also noted that her reputation would come from her carefully made works, mostly for voices and small groups of instruments.

Important Works

• Rosaces (1984) for solo organ.
• Watermark (1986) for winds and piano.
• New and Better Days (1988) for choir, trumpet, and organ.
• Cantus (1992) for 11 solo strings.
• Trio Del Cantus (1994) for string trio.
• Fiori musicali (1997) for string quartet.
• Under the Skin (1999) for a large group of musicians.