In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument

Karen P. Thomas

Director

Karen Thomas

Karen P. Thomas, composer and conductor, is the artistic/executive director and conductor of the Seattle Pro Musica. With Seattle Pro Musica she has produced seven critically-acclaimed commercial CD recordings, has received the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence and the ASCAP-Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, and is currently a finalist for The American Prize for choral conducting.

Ms. Thomas has appeared as guest conductor at the Bergen International Festival, International Conference on Women in Music, and the Alliance World Festival of Women's Singing. She has also conducted Seattle Pro Musica at the following events: * on the NPR radio show Saint Paul Sunday * several American Guild of Organists National Conventions * multiple American Choral Directors Association NW Division Conventions * Festival Vancouver in Canada

Her conducting has received critical praise for its "integrity and high purpose...delivered with taste and impeccable musicianship" and she has been lauded for her "charismatic...magnetic podium presence."

Ms. Thomas's compositions have been performed at several festivals, including the International Festival Donne in Musica in Italy, the Bergen International Festival in Norway, International Congresses on Women in Music in England and Spain, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Alliance World Festival of Women's Singing, and the Goodwill Arts Festival in the United States. Her compositions are also regularly broadcast on radio and television throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Her choral works are performed by groups such as The Hilliard Ensemble and have been praised as "superb work of the utmost sensitivity and beauty." Of her music theater work, Boxiana, the Seattle Times wrote: "One of the most dazzling interdisciplinary pieces to have hit Seattle in the past few years. Passionate, witty and daunting in its technical prowess...This is one knockout of a piece." Ms. Thomas's catalogue of compositions includes choral, orchestral, vocal, chamber, solo instrument, and theater works. She is a recipient of grants from the following organizations: * National Endowment for the Arts * The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters * New Langton Arts * Seattle Arts Commission * King County Arts Commission

Ms. Thomas has received fellowships from Artist Trust and the Washington State Arts Commission and was a fellow at the Oregon Bach Festival, Dorland Arts Colony, and Chorus of Westerly. Her compositions have been awarded prizes in various competitions, including the ASCAP Competition, His Majestie's Clerkes, Melodious Accord, the International Alliance for Women in Music, and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra.

Her commissions include works for the Grand Jubilee 2000 in Rome, the American Guild of Organists, and the Goodwill Arts Festival, among many others. In 1998 she received the first Distinguished Alumna Award from Cornish College of the Arts. Currently serving on the board of the American Choral Director's Association for Washington State, Ms. Thomas has served on the boards of the Conductor's Guild, the International Alliance for Women in Music, and the League-ISCM and has served on the faculties of Pacific Lutheran University, Evergreen State College, Cornish College, and Edmonds Community College.

The music director of a comprehensive music program at University Unitarian Church, Ms. Thomas holds advanced degrees from the University of Washington and Cornish College. She has studied and participated in master classes with Sir David Willcocks, Arvo Part, Peter Phillips, Dale Warland, Jacob Druckman, Leon Kirchner, William Kraft, Ned Rorem, Helmuth Rilling, William Bergsma, Tonu Kaljuste, Simon Carrington, and Gregg Smith.

Discography

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Seattle Pro Musica : Alnight by the Rose

Review: Featuring Morten Lauridsen's stunning Madrigali: Six Firesongs on Italian Renaissance Poetry and pieces by Italian Renaissance composers Claudio Monteverdi and Carlo Gesualdo. The works of Monteverdi and Gesualdo inspired Lauridsen to write his Madrigali. Also includes Arvo Part's beautiful Magnificat and Karen P. Thomas' Medieval Lyrics, as well as works by Hildegard von Bingen, Frank Ferko and Guillaume Dufay.

Songlist: Ave Regina caelorum, Gedeanis area, O cruor sanguinis, O successores, O verbum Patris, O splendidissima gemma, Laus Trinitati, Magnificat, Medieval Lyrics , To Mistress Margaret Hussey, Alright by the Rose, Dolcissima miaw vita, Si, ch'io vorrei morire , Madrigali: Six "Fire Songs" , Ov'e, Lass', Il Bel Viso, Quando Son Piu Lontan, Amor, io sento l'amlma, Lo piango, Luci Serene E Chiare, Se Per Havervi, Oi

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Seattle Pro Musica : Rachmaninov

Review: From 1880 to 1917 was a renaissance in Russian choral music, a great outpouring of sacred compositions by major composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Chesnokov and Kastalsky. While Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) only wrote a few choral works, they are among the crowning achievements of Russian choral music. 'Vsenoshchnoye Bdeniye Op. 37 (Vespers)' encompasses a wealth of moods and emotion, ranging from meditative introspection to praise and proclamation. The 76-strong, award-winning Seattle Pro Musica is the perfect ensemble for this material, dramatically powerful on a piece like 'Priidite, poklonimsya,' (Come Let Us Worship), sweetly meditative on songs like 'Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Gospoda' and 'Shestopsalmiye: Slava v vyshnikh bogu' (The Six Psalms: Glory Be to God in the Highest), filled with wonder on 'Tropar: Dnes spasneniye' (The Troparion: Thou didst Rise from the Tomb), and joyfully triumphant on 'Vzbrannoy voyevode' (To Thee, the Victorious Leader). Truly wonderful, rarely-heard sacred music from one of great composers of all time.

Songlist: Priidite, polonimsya (Come, Let Us Worship), Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Gospoda (Bless the Lord, O My Soul), Blazhen muzh (Blessed is the Man), Svete tikhyi (Gladsome Light), Nyne otpushchayeshi (Lord, Now Lettest Thou Thy Servant Depart), Bogoroditse Devo (Rejoice, O Virgin), Shestopsalmiye: Slava v vyshnikh Bogu (The Six Psalms: Glory to God in theHighest), Khvalite imya Gospodne (Praise the Name of the Lord), Blagosloven yesi, Gospodi (Blessed Art Thou, O Lord), Voskreseniye Khristovo videvshe (Having Beheld the Resurrection of Christ), Velichit dusha moya Gospoda (My Soul Magnifies the Lord), Slavosloviye velikoye (The Great Doxology: Glory to God in the Highest, Tropar: Dnes spaseniye (The Troparion: Today Salvation Has Come), Tropar: Voskres iz groba (The Troparion: Thou didst Rise from the Tomb), Vzbrannoy voyevode (To Thee, the Victorious leader)

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Seattle Pro Musica : Weihnachten - A German Christmas

Review: This large (76 mixed voices) award-winning (ASCAP Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music) brings us a sumptuous collection of sacred Christmas music by composers from the 16th century (Praetorius, Philipp Nicolai, Heinrich Schutz), to the 19th century (Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bruckner, Franz Gruber's 'Stille Nacht') to the 20th century (the seven movements of Hugo Distler's 'Chorale Motets from Die Weihnachtsgeschichte,' Franz Biebl's 'Ave Maria'). Biebl's 'Ave Maria.' A timeless piece like Praetorius' 'In dulci jubilo,' with its beautiful, ringing harmonies, soars and amazes as it did when first performed four hundred years ago!

Songlist: Resonet in Laudibus, Puer natus in Bethlehem, Wie Schon leuchtet der Morgernstern (Nicolai), Wie Schon leuchtet der Morgernstern (Praetorius), Wachet auf (Nicolai), Wachet auf (Praetorius), In Dulci Jubilo (Berlin Codex), In Dulci Jubilo (Praetorius), Deutsches Magnificat, Der Englische Gruss, Marias Kirchgang, Der jager, Ave maria, Wihnachten, Am Neujahrstage, Im Advent, Ave maria, Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, Das Roslein, das ich meine, Meine Seele erhebt Gott, den herren, Das Blumelein so kleine, Die hirten zu der Stunden, Lob, her sei Gott, dem Vater, Si subgeb wir all Amen, Stille Nacht

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