Andrew William Thomas (b. October 8, 1939 in Ithaca, NY) is an American composer. He studied with Karel Husa at Cornell University, with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and earned his M.M. and D.M.A. Degrees in Composition at The Juilliard School. At Juilliard he studied with Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, and Otto Luening. He teaches and was the chairman of the Composition Department at the Pre-College Division at Juilliard from 1969 to 1994.
In 1994, The Juilliard School appointed him the Director of the Pre-College Division. In addition to composing, Dr. Thomas performs as a pianist, conductor, and is a guest teacher throughout the world. His many awards include a grant from The National Endowment for the Arts and a Distinguished Teacher Citation from The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. After Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted The Deutsches Symphonie Orchester/Berlin in Dr. Thomas's Marimba Concerto, ‘Loving Mad Tom,‘ with Evelyn Glennie as the soloist, Jürgen Otten of Der Tagespiel wrote "... his arsenal of romantic ghost music from Weber to Berlioz to Liszt is recognized here, and sound-consciously conveyed into the modern idiom." - .
Many soloists, chamber organizations, and orchestras have recorded Dr. Thomas's music in the United States and abroad, including his work for solo Marimba, 'Merlin,' commissioned by William Moersch, which has become a standard among percussionists. Numerous recordings of this work are available, including ones by Mr. Moersch on Newport Classics and Nancy Zeltsman on GM Records. "Three Transformations" for duo marimbas, commissioned by Nancy Zeltsman, was recorded by Ms. Zeltsman and Jack Van Geem and is available on their "Pedro and Olga Learn to Dance" CD and other recordings. Both works have been requirements for percussion competitions.
The American Brass Quintet includes Dr. Thomas‘s ‘Consonanze Stravaganti‘ a work which they commissioned- on their “American Visions” album on the Summit label. ‘Loving Mad Tom,‘ a marimba concerto by Dr. Thomas and his concerto for guitar, percussion, and string orchestra, ‘The Heroic Triad‘ was recorded by the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the Opus One label with the composer conducting. It will be released sometime in 2007. Other works of Andrew Thomas that were commissioned and premiered by soloists and organizations within the past few years include: ‘Wind‘ for solo Marimba, composed for Makoto Nakura, ‘The Heroic Triad‘, for Twentieth Century Unlimited, ‘For the class of 2003‘, for Renée Fleming, ‘Valse Triste‘, a solo marimba work for Simon Boyar, ‘Crane by the River Li‘, for the traditional Chinese instrument Orchestra of the Guangxi Arts College in Nanning, China, and ‘A Samba‘, a work for two solo flutes (Carol Wincenc and Robert Langevin), two flute choirs, and chamber orchestra.
