Composer Augusta Read Thomas visits the Center this week!

Amidst the flurry of concerts and workshops going on at the Center in April, as well as the recent residencies by Mario Caroli and the Talujon Percussion Ensemble (see posts below), we will soon be enjoying a visit by composer Augusta Read Thomas, who will give a private master class to composition students in UB’s graduate program as well as present a lecture on her own work on Wednesday, April 25^th. Augusta is the recipient of an Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was recently appointed University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music and the College at the University of Chicago.

Augusta Read Thomas

Augusta Read Thomas is also a long-time friend of the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21^st Century Music, and has participated as a faculty composer at the 2006 June in Buffalo Festival, as well as enjoyed many performances at June in Buffalo, including: Blizzard in Paradise, Bubble: Rainbow - (spirit level), Carillon Sky, Red Moon, Rumi Settings, Six Piano Etudes, Sonnet from the field: second movement, and Spirit Musings. 2012 will be an exciting year of premieres for Augusta, as Third Coast Percussion will premiere her Resounding Earth in September, and in December, The National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing will give the world premiere of her Harvest Drum for orchestra.

Additionally, this summer, Augusta will be co-teaching, along with Christopher Rouse, the Master Class Composers' Session at the Aspen Music Festival, in Aspen, Colorado. UB’s own Nathan Heidelberger will be particpating with her at Aspen, as he has been selected as one of the few student composers to be given a one-month residency at the Aspen Music Festival this summer. We at the Center will be looking forward to a full report from Nathan next Fall!

You can learn more about Augusta Read Thomas in this video below, where she is interviewed about a recent work of hers, Helios Choros II (Sun God Dancers), performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.