David Evan Thomas

b. 1958

The music of David Evan Thomas has been praised for its eloquence, power and craft. A recipient of two McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowships, an Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Möller-A.G.O. Award in Choral Composition, Thomas has received commissions from the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the American Composers Forum and the American Guild of Organists. His music is published by E. C. Schirmer Music Company, MorningStar Music Publishers, Augsburg Fortress, and several other firms.

David Evan Thomas was the first composer-in-residence for the Schubert Club, which awarded him the An die Musik Award for outstanding service in 2016, and he served Westminster Presbyterian Church (Minneapolis) and the Cathedral of Saint Paul through a FaithPartners residency. Other residencies have taken him to Wyoming—the Ucross and Brush Creek Arts Foundations—and to California’s Villa Montalvo.

Recent honors include the VocalEssence Welcome Christmas Carol Contest and the Renée B. Fisher Composer Awards. In 2018, Thomas was initiated into Sigma Alpha Iota Fraternity as a National Arts Associate.

Born in Rochester, New York in 1958, David Evan Thomas received degrees from Northwestern University, Eastman School of Music and the University of Minnesota. His teachers included Dominick Argento, Samuel Adler and Alan Stout, with further study at the Aspen Festival and with David Diamond at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Thomas lives in Minneapolis, where he is also active as a program annotator for the Schubert Club, a choral singer and pianist.