Augusta Read Thomas

Acclaimed composer Augusta Read Thomas is being welcomed back to Eastman School of Music where the Eastman Philharmonia will perform her composition “Brio.”

Thomas was an associate professor of composition at Eastman from 1993 until 2001. She is a Grammy Award winner and one of the most influential composers today. Thomas has been called “a true virtuoso composer” by The New Yorker.

The New York Times noted that Thomas’ work was performed more frequently from 2013 to 2014 than any other living American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) composer.

“Augusta Read Thomas has been one of the most important composers, teachers, and festival curators for more than two decades,” says Brad Lubman, associate professor of conducting and ensembles. “She has had a major and enormously positive impact on generations of younger composers, and has composed countless dramatic, colorful and poetic works that have become part of the contemporary repertoire.”

Thomas’s recent and upcoming commissions include the Boston Symphony, Wigmore Hall in London, Chicago Philharmonic and Notre Dame University. She has been awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, along with other notable awards.

“The ESM is a world-class institution with a very distinguished tradition of developing, performing and supporting contemporary music,” says Thomas. “Exemplary faculty in all areas and disciplines of the school set an inspiring tone and exude a culture of excellence. I am really looking forward to seeing friends and colleagues, presenting recent works at Colloquium, rehearsing with the Philharmonia conducted by superstar professor Brad Lubman and experiencing the concert in beautiful Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre.”

Also on the program is Oliver Knussen’s “Flourish with Fireworks,” Debussy’s “La Mer” and Shostakovich’s “Piano Concerto No. 1.” The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. on Friday Feb. 1 in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. esm.rochester.edu