news & events


Premiere of “Leaving Neverland”

This premiere is a COVID redemption story. Finally premiered after a 3-year delay by Zachary Costello and Hyemin Kim on the campus where the piece was conceived and completed. Full circle. Leaving Neverland, for alto saxophone and piano, was commissioned by two of Dr. Matthew Schlomer’s students in honor of him. It grew out of […]

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Triune: Three from One

It’s been a busy year and I’m way behind on posting. Quick update on a really exciting opportunity I had~ I was commissioned by Interlochen Presents last summer to write a piece for Sir James Galway, who was coming as a guest to Interlochen. More specifically I wrote it for flute trio (Sir Galway, his […]

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Astor’s Nod featured on the “365 Days of Flute” project

Yesterday Astor’s Nod was featured on Robin Meiksins‘ project, 365 Days of Flute. Robin has undertaken an ambitious project starting in September 2016 to record and post a flute standard or a piece submitted by a living composer every day for a year. Astor’s Nod made her selections and an excerpt was featured on her YouTube channel […]

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Successful New York premiere

Here’s a nice write-up about the collaboration between Interlochen and the New York Philharmonic that included the NY premiere of tritonicity.  

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Premiere of “Beauty Ancient and New”

I’m excited to announce that my new piece for wind band and spoken word artist, Beauty Ancient and New, will be premiered on Saturday at Interlochen’s Corson Auditorium by the Academy Band with special guest Sareem Poems. This piece has been a journey. Thanks to encouragement from Dr. Matt Schlomer, IAA’s band director, I stretched into […]

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‘tritonicity’ to receive NY premiere at the Lincoln Center

For a composer, there’s nothing like a composition coming to life. This one’s gotten some performances, but… NY premiere this Saturday. By Interlochen students. In the Lincoln Center. And I get to be there. Here’s an article about the concert. This was first played by eighth blackbird in Pittsburgh. Quite a few of you have been […]

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New Chamber Music site!

  Hi all! I’m pleased to announce that cha chi ka, my piece for amplified voices and percussion has been selected for inclusion on a new chamber music site: http://www.newchambermusic.org/. If you’re looking for new music, check out this newly curated collection!

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Star-Speak featured at Christmas show

“The show also features a performance of the Christmas carol “Star-Speak,” written by Interlochen composer Thomas Childs with lyrics by [Ann-Marie] Oomen.” The article can be found in Traverse City’s newspaper, The Record Eagle here.  

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Wouldn’t Harm a Fly… at ClarinetFest 2014!

Wouldn’t Harm a Fly…, my piece for clarinet and piano, gets its official national premiere a week from tomorrow on August 1. Dr. Cassandra Hibbard landed a prime spot on the Saturday 3 o’clock concert at ClarinetFest 2014 in Baton Rouge, LA. Thanks to Cassandra and the commissioning consortium for supporting this piece.

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Summer updates

It’s been a while, so here are a couple updates on what I’ve been doing: I was commissioned to write for the Interlochen Shakespeare Festival in June & July. The Festival put on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Part of the script calls for the actors to sing the lines. The producer and director thought ahead and decided it […]

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