- John Thow
John Holland Thow (
October 6 ,1949 -March 4 ,2007 ) was an American musiccomposer . Thow produced an extensive and diverse body of work comprising solo, chamber, vocal, choral, operatic and orchestral repertoire.Born in
Los Angeles in 1949, Thow grew up inVentura, California . As a child he studiedflute andpiano , and later studied composition withAdolph Weiss , a pupil ofSchoenberg ’s, and conductorFrank Salazar . AtUniversity of Southern California he pursued hisBachelor of Music , studying composition withIngolf Dahl . He continued his studies atHarvard withEarl Kim andLeon Kirchner , where he received hisPh.D. in composition in 1977.Thow received a
Fulbright Fellowship , which allowed him to travel toRome for the first time in 1973 to study composition withLuciano Berio , who would become an important mentor and influence. Thow later returned to Italy as a recipient of the prestigiousRome Prize . During that time he also studied withLuigi Dallapiccola andFranco Donatoni .After teaching at
Boston University , Thow joined theUniversity of California, Berkeley faculty in 1981, specializing in composition,orchestration ,counterpoint , theory, in addition to teaching courses on American and European music of the 20th century. Some of his composition students includeKeeril Makan ,Reynold Tharp ,Dwight Banks ,Richard Dudas ,Yiorgos Vassilandonakis ,Hubert Ho andDmitri Tymoczko .A master of orchestration with a passion for literature and indigenous musical traditions, Thow produced a series of works featuring unusual instrumental combinations and vivid texts. His “"Chumash Songs"” for clarinet, violin, percussion and piano (2000), commissioned by the Ventura Chamber Music Festival, incorporated melodic and rhythmic elements of the Southern California
Chumash Indian tribe. “"Musica d’amore"” is a trio for oboe d’amore, viola d’amore and harp; “"Summer Solstice"” (2005) sets contemporary Greek poetry. “"Three Echoes"” (2001), was written for the five-holeLakota Sioux flute; “"Three Pieces for Carillon",” was performed at theInternational Carillon Festival at UC Berkeley’s Campanile, and “"Six Duets"” forbaroque flutes (2006) was premiered inLondon .Thow received commissions from the
San Francisco Symphony ,Berkeley Opera ,San Francisco Contemporary Music Players ,Boston Musica Viva ,Alea III ,Earplay Ensemble ,Ventura Chamber Music Festival andDetroit Chamber Winds , among others. His compositions were performed at the Tanglewood andEdinburgh festival s, and by the L’Orchestra dellaRAI in Rome,Speculum Musicae and theBrooklyn Philharmonic . His lyrical and richly colored music has been consistently championed by the finest contemporary performers.Thow’s relationship with the
San Francisco Symphony began with a 1986 performance of his “"Resonance".” The Symphony subsequently commissioned the three-movement “"Into the Twilight"” from Thow in 1988, and “"Bellini Sky",” a concerto for English horn inspired by the paintings of the 15th-century artistGiovanni Bellini , in 2005.His late work for
soprano and orchestra titled “"Eros and Dust"” (2003), based on texts byMatthew Arnold ,Edwin Arlington Robinson ,W. H. Auden andRumi , was influenced by theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks onManhattan .Thow received grants from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters , theNational Endowment for the Arts and theAmerican Music Center , aGuggenheim Fellowship and the Rome Prize. He was artist-in-residence at the Yaddo, Djerassi, Temecula Arts, andWurlitzer Foundation s.External links
* [http://www.johnthow.com Website in memory of John Thow]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.