Augusta Read Thomas

University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois ~ Composer; University Professor of Composition. Prodigy from an early age. Has produced three violin concertos, an opera, and dozens of solo, chamber, and symphonic works. Music is marked by an impassioned, even incendiary lyricism. International figure, from London to Paris to Berlin to Moscow. Her discography exceeds sixty commercially recorded albums. Leader in the artistic and educational communities: as a board member and Chair of the American Music Center; as a teacher and programmer at Tanglewood for a decade; as a Professor at Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago; and as Resident Composer at the Chicago Symphony, where for nine years she worked to commission and program new work by composers of diverse aesthetics. Thomas is the 15th person to ever hold University Professorship at the University of Chicago. Her 2005 Astral Canticle was one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music.