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Composers
John Thow
Bellini Sky Premiere
David Robertson, Giacobassi, John
Thow
John Thow
John Thow, (1949-2007), a native of Southern California, studied composition at the University of Southern California with Anthony Vazzana and Ramiro Cortes (B. Mus), and composition with Leon Kirchner and musicology with Oliver Strunk at Harvard University (Ph. D.). A Fulbright fellowship brought him to Italy, where he studied with Luciano Berio in Rome and Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. He returned to Italy under Harvard travel grants and the Rome Prize Fellowship in composition to continue study with Berio. In 1981 John Thow joined the music faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, after having taught at Harvard and Boston University, and has served the department as chair and as director of the Berkeley Contemporary Music Players. John Thow has received commissions and awards from many prominent performing groups and institutions in the United States and abroad. These include the Boston Musica Viva, Alea III (Boston), the Brooklyn Philharmonic, l'Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI (Rome), La Settimana Musicale Chigiana (Siena, Italy), Musical Elements (New York), the San Francisco Symphony, the Detroit Chamber Soloists, North/South Consonance (New York), the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and the Berkeley Opera. John Thow has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters (which also awarded him its Academy Award in Music in 1994), the Djerassi Foundation, the Yaddo Foundation, the Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico and other organizations. In all, John Thow has composed over eighty compositions, many of which have been the result of commissions and/or granted awards. Among the more recent works, in 1997 the National Flute Association gave his duet for two Baroque flutes, To Invoke the Clouds, its Newly Published Music Award, and featured the piece at its national convention, the first time a work for Baroque flute had been so honored. His opera Serpentina, based on a tale of ETA Hoffmann, was warmly received at its premiere in 1999 by the Berkeley Opera. In 2000 the Ventura, CA, Chamber Music Festival commissioned Chumash Songs, a work that has received numerous performances. In 2004 the San Francisco Symphony Commissioned Bellini Sky for English Horn solo, Strings, Harp and Percussion, a work that met with great success. Carl Fischer, G. Schirmer, Falls House Press, Fish Creek Music and Theodore Presser publish his music. His music has been recorded on the Neuma, Music & Arts and Cantilena labels. A recent recording of his trio Musica d'amore was released on the Fish Creek Music label by members of the San Francisco Symphony.
