Thanks for coming by!

Fall 2024:

1 – My arranagement of Ryuichi Sakamoto – 1996 for the Bang on a Can All-Stars will get its European premiere at the GAIDA Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania.

2 – The Dutch ensemble VONK has commissioned me to write two new pieces for their ensemble of vocals, winds, and percussion as part of their “A Songbook of Rare Feelings” concert alongside composers Chris Cerrone, Aftab Davishi, Nicoline Soeter and Celia Swart.  The premiere is October 29 in Tilburg, Netherlands.

3 – My new work “Daylight Savings” will premiere in a new collaboration with the Berlin group HearNow Berlin in Berlin and Germany this Fall.

4 – And a new band tour!  My new group Lingua Franca will be play some shows in Germany in December and get ready to record!

Note: The Compositions section has not been updated in a very long time.  Will work on that.

Ken Thomson Sextet – Sept 7, 2018

upcoming shows

Ryuichi Sakamoto “1996” arranged Ken Thomson

Bang on a Can All-Stars

Gaida Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania

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VONK premiere 2 new works for vocals, winds, perc as part of “A songbook of rare feelings”

Vonk

De Link, Tilburg, Netherlands

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New piece premiere “Daylight Savings”

Hearnow Berlin with Ken Thomson

TangoLoft, Berlin, Germany

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New piece premiere “Daylight Savings”

Hearnow Berlin with Ken Thomson

Tonali Saal, Hamburg, Germany

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Ken Thomson “Lingua Franca” tour

Ken Thomson Lingua Franca

Tonne, Dresden, Germany

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Bang on a Can plays Julia Wolfe

Bang on a Can All-Stars

National Sawdust, Brooklyn, NY

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Ken Thomson “Lingua Franca” tour

Ken Thomson "Lingua Franca"

Unterfahrt, Munich, Germany

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Ken Thomson “Lingua Franca” tour

Ken Thomson "Lingua Franca"

Donau 115, Berlin, Germany

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projects

Bang on a Can All-Stars

Bang on a Can All-Stars

Acclaimed internationally-touring electro-acoustic sextet for which I largely play clarinet and bass clarinet. This group, directed by the Bang on a Can collective in NYC, has worked with an exhaustive list of composers over 20 years, while focusing on the music of artistic directors Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe.  I have been a member of this fantastic group since 2013.

Sextet

Ken Thomson Sextet

My compositions for horns and rhythm section — I’m playing alto saxophone with Anna Webber, tenor, Russ Johnson, trumpet, Alan Ferber, trombone, Adam Armstrong, bass, and Daniel Dor, drums. New record out September 7, 2018 on New Focus/Panoramic Recording (Naxos), with American and European tours.

Anzû Quartet

Anzû Quartet

Formed in 2020, the Anzû Quartet is an ensemble dedicated to the music of our time and the recent canon. A collaboration between internationally renowned performers of contemporary music, this new quartet pays homage to Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps by actively commissioning and performing new works for this iconic instrumentation alongside Messiaen’s original masterpiece.  The members of Anzû are veterans of New York City’s vital contemporary music community and have frequently collaborated with one another across a wide range of musical endeavors and acclaimed international performances. Olivia De Prato (violin), Ashley Bathgate (cello), Ken Thomson (clarinet) and Karl Larson (piano) have been lauded by critics and musicians worldwide, and have been instrumental in helping form and cement the work of important NY-based chamber groups such as the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Mivos Quartet, Ensemble Signal and Bearthoven.

Asphalt Orchestra

Asphalt Orchestra

I am the music director and alto saxophonist for this 8-piece virtuoso street band that plays music from across the world, performing outdoors at festivals and indoors at theaters across the US and Europe. After working with everyone from Yoko Ono to Goran Bregovic, David Byrne, St. Vincent, and more, Asphalt’s released a re-imagination of the Pixies record Surfer Rosa, which debuted at Lincoln Center Out of Doors in Summer 2013 and was released on Cantaloupe Music in Fall 2014. In 2018, the group played a weeklong set of concerts at the Bravo Vail music festival in Colorado.

Gutbucket

Gutbucket

This punk/jazz 4-piece collective has been going strong since 1999 — having toured 33 US states and 19 countries across the USA and Europe, and released 6 CDs and a DVD on Cuneiform Records, Cantaloupe Music/Enja Records, NRW, Plattenfroster and Knitting Factory Records.

Bang on a Can Summer Festival

Bang on a Can Summer Festival

I’m on performance faculty here with an incredible team of colleagues.  This festival, for emerging composers and performers, features inspiring student-fellows every summer, and is always a highlight of the year — with multiple daily concerts, packed rehearsal days, and an ending marathon concert all at the Mass MoCA museum in the Berkshires, Massachusetts.

compositions

catapult percussion solo 2015 buy score commissioned by Doug Perkins, debuted at Miller Theatre, NYC
Boil chamber orchestra 2016 premiered at Bang on a Can Summer Festival 2016
restless cello and piano 2014 buy score
Me Vs. solo piano 2012 buy score world premieres by Karl Larson and Anne Rainwater, NYC and San Francisco, 2013
Thaw string quartet 2011 buy score recorded by JACK Quartet on "Thaw" (Cantaloupe Music, 2013)
perpetual bass clarinet and string quartet 2010 buy score recorded by Ken Thomson and JACK Quartet on "Thaw" (Cantaloupe Music, 2013)
It Would Be Easier If bass clarinet, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2008 buy score

Chamber

re- mixed horns + 2 electric guitars 2016 For the opening of the MET Breuer with choreographer David Dorfman
441 mixed ensemble 2015 (Premiere was flute, clarinet, horn, cello, guitar, piano, and percussion)
Music for Trains saxophone quartet 2013 debuted at Bang on a Can Summer Marathon at Mass MoCA, 2013
Incoming solo harp, electric guitar and tenor saxophone with 3 strings, bass and drums 2012 debuted at Bang on a Can Summer Marathon at Mass MoCA, 2012
November, dusk 2 bass clarinets, contrabass clarinet, contrabass, and drumset 2011
burst woodwind quartet 2011 for DZ4
when it rains bass clarinet quartet 2011-2012 premiered at Bang on a Can Summer Festival 2011, revised
Thaw string quartet 2011 buy score recorded by JACK Quartet on "Thaw" (Cantaloupe Music, 2013)
Unpack the Elephant 12-piece marching band 2011 for Asphalt Orchestra
perpetual bass clarinet and string quartet 2010 buy score recorded by Ken Thomson and JACK Quartet on "Thaw" (Cantaloupe Music, 2013)
Rut 9 saxophones 2009 released on Anti-Social Music Is the Future of Everything (Peacock Records); Performance at the Bang on a Can Marathon 2009
seasonal.disorder cl, cello, pno, e gtr, bass, drums 2008 commissioned by Bang on a Can for the Bang on a Can All-Stars; NY debut at Merkin Concert Hall
Such Insolence! string quartet, saxophone, guitar, bass, drums 2007 Written for Gutbucket + Ethel; Debuted at the Köln Triennale, Germany, May 2007
Eberswalde to Amsterdam string quartet, saxophone, guitar, bass, drums 2006 Written for Gutbucket + Ethel; Debuted at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival, Austria, August 2006
How to Play 5 clarinets 2006 in 3 movements; Debuted at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, July 2006
Throw Back soli amplified viola and electric guitar with string quintet and 6 drumstick players 2006 For Beth Meyers and Ty Citerman with Anti-Social Music; Debuted at Merkin Hall, NYC, February 2006
4+4 saxophone quartet 2004 Premiered by Collide Quartet
Don't Stop two alto saxophones, cello, and bass 2003 Premiered by Anti-Social Music, Performed at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, 2004
Song two voices and two violins 2004 for Anti-Social Music; Recorded on Anti-Social Music Sings the Great American Songbook (self-released)

Solo/Duo

catapult percussion solo 2015 buy score commissioned by Doug Perkins, debuted at Miller Theatre, NYC
restless cello and piano 2014 buy score
I trust you solo cello 2012 commissioned by Mariel Roberts
Me Vs. solo piano 2012 buy score world premieres by Karl Larson and Anne Rainwater, NYC and San Francisco, 2013
pay to play violin and alto saxophone 2011 buy score For Todd Reynolds and myself
Deafening Irrelevance acoustic guitar and violin 2011 commissioned by Andie Springer and James Moore for Europe-Canada-USA tour
Storm Drain violin and bass clarinet 2010 buy score commissioned by Todd Reynolds for CD Outerborough (Innova Records)
Undo bass clarinet duet 2008 buy score Commissioned by Sqwonk; Released on Black
Are You Ready To Meet Him? acoustic+distorted cello/voice 2006 text by Jerry Falwell; Written for Jody Redhage

Chamber Orchestra

Boil chamber orchestra 2016 premiered at Bang on a Can Summer Festival 2016
Gwely Mernans Arrangement of Aphex Twin for Alarm Will Sound 2005 Recorded on Acoustica (Cantaloupe Music), NYC debut at Lincoln Center Festival 2005

Orchestra

Wait Your Turn orchestra + punk/jazz quartet 2007 Commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, NYC debut at Carnegie Hall

Gutbucket

Recorded works only - for alto saxophone, gtr, bass, drums

Luton 2014 recorded on Dance (Gut Records 2016)
Fucking title 2014 recorded on Dance (Gut Records 2016)
2 is not enough 2014 recorded on Dance (Gut Records 2016)
Give Up 2010 recorded on Flock (Cuneiform Records 2011)
d0g Help Us 2009 recorded on Flock (Cuneiform Records 2011)
Fuck You and Your Hipster Tie 2009 recorded on Flock (Cuneiform Records 2011)
Carnivore 2008 recorded on A Modest Proposal (Cuneiform Records 2009)
Side Effects May Include 2007 recorded on A Modest Proposal (Cuneiform Records 2009)
Disciplining the Fugitive 2004 recorded on Sludge Test (Cantaloupe Music/NRW 2006)
O.J. Bin Laden 2002 recorded on Dry Humping the American Dream (Cantaloupe Music/Enja 2004); Arranged for Gutbucket + string quartet 2003
Lift Cover, Pull Cord 2001 recorded on Dry Humping the American Dream (Cantaloupe Music/Enja 2004)
Its 2000 recorded on InsomniacsDream (Knitting Factory Records 2001)

Soundtrack

Night Mail soundtrack (British, 1936), 22 min 2007 debuted by Gutbucket at True/False Film Festival, Columbia, MO
Johnny the Giant Killer soundtrack (French, 1951) 2005 wrote ¼ of 60 min. work; debuted by Gutbucket at Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL

Slow/Fast

through-composed distorted/clean jazz quintet

Settle alto saxophone, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2011
Spring alto saxophone, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2011
Bend Towards Light bass clarinet, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums, glockenspiel 2011
Welding for Freedom alto saxophone, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2010
We Are Not All In This Together bass clarinet, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2010
Kleine Helmet bass clarinet, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2008 buy score
Goddamn You, Ice Cream Truck alto saxophone, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2008 buy score
No, No, No alto saxophone, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2008 buy score
Wanderangst bass clarinet, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2008 buy score
It Would Be Easier If bass clarinet, trumpet, e. gtr, bass, drums 2008 buy score

discography

Sextet Ken Thomson Panoramic/New Focuslisten - buy
Ken Thomson: Restless with Ashley Bathgate and Karl LarsonRestless Ashley Bathgate & Karl Larson Uffda/Cantaloupe Recordslisten - buy
Settle Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast NCM East Recordslisten - buy
Thaw Ken Thomson/Jack Quartet Cantaloupe Musiclisten - buy

Featured Composer

Sextet Ken Thomson Panoramic/New Focuslisten - buy
Ken Thomson: Restless with Ashley Bathgate and Karl LarsonRestless Ashley Bathgate & Karl Larson Uffda/Cantaloupe Recordslisten - buy
Settle Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast NCM East Recordslisten - buy
Dance Gutbucket Gut Recordslisten - buy
Thaw Ken Thomson/Jack Quartet Cantaloupe Musiclisten - buy
It Would Be Easier If Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast Intuition Recordslisten - buy
Dry Humping the American Dream Gutbucket Enja Records/Cantaloupe Musiclisten - buy
Live at MS Stubnitz 2001-2007 DVD Gutbucket Plattenfroster Recordslisten - buy

Featured Performer

Sextet Ken Thomson Panoramic/New Focuslisten - buy
Settle Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast NCM East Recordslisten - buy
Dance Gutbucket Gut Recordslisten - buy
Thaw Ken Thomson/Jack Quartet Cantaloupe Musiclisten - buy
It Would Be Easier If Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast Intuition Recordslisten - buy
Dry Humping the American Dream Gutbucket Enja Records/Cantaloupe Musiclisten - buy
Live at MS Stubnitz 2001-2007 DVD Gutbucket Plattenfroster Recordslisten - buy

More as Composer/Arranger

Black Sqwonk listen - buy
Love this Giant David Byrne/St. Vincent 4AD
is The Future of Everything Anti-Social Music Peacock Recordingslisten - buy
Sings the Great American Songbook Anti-Social Music Peacock Recordingslisten - buy

More as Performer

The Passion Jeffrey Brooks listen - buy
Anthracite Fields Julia Wolfe Cantaloupe Musiclisten - buy
Steve Reich: Double Sextet Ensemble Signal Harmonia Mundi USAlisten - buy
Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians Ensemble Signal Harmonia Mundi USAlisten - buy
BABEL fragments Pat Muchmore Innovalisten - buy
Gordon/Lang/Wolfe: Shelter Ensemble Signal Cantaloupe Musicbuy
Beat Therapy Dmitri Tymoczko Bridge Recordslisten - buy
is The Future of Everything Anti-Social Music Peacock Recordingslisten - buy
Sings the Great American Songbook Anti-Social Music Peacock Recordingslisten - buy

about

Berlin and Brooklyn-based clarinetist-saxophonist-composer Ken Thomson is widely regarded for his ability to blend a rich variety of influences and styles into his own musical language while maintaining a voice unmistakably his own.

Thomson has a growing catalog of music written for ensembles of different sizes, and has released a number of albums with groups that he has created.  His latest effort combining the sounds of jazz and contemporary music, Sextet, garnered Top of 2018 placement from websites Second Inversion and AnEarful and has toured to Europe and across the US.  His previous project, a five-piece group called Slow/Fast with whom he released two albums, toured to the Saalfelden Jazz Festival and more; the group was praised by The New York Times in a full review for its “intricate long-form compositions.” He released heralded full-length CDs of his compositions in 2013 with JACK Quartet (Thaw) and in 2016 with cellist Ashley Bathgate and pianist Karl Larson (Restless).

Besides his own groups, Ken plays clarinet for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, one of the world’s preeminent contemporary music ensembles. He co-leads Anzû Quartet, an ensemble based on Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, dedicated to performing that work and commissioning for its instrumentation. He is the musical director for the Asphalt Orchestra, an 8-piece next-generation avant-garde street band. He plays saxophone and is one of the 4 composers in the punk/chamber/jazz band Gutbucket, with whom he toured internationally to twenty countries and 32 states over twenty years.

As a teaching artist, he is on faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival and has given composer master classes to multiple universities across the globe, and as guest faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts Masters program and a composer mentor at the Ensemble Offspring Hatched Academy in Sydney, Australia. 

As a composer, he has been commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, Bang on a Can, the True/False Film Festival, Doug Perkins, Mariel Roberts, and others, and has received awards from New Music USA, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, ASCAP and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.  His arrangement of Meredith Monk’s “Downfall” was called one of the “Top 25 Classical Tracks of 2020” by The New York Times.

Performing with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, he has appeared as a soloist with the LA Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony, BBC and RTE Concert Orchestra, and more.  He has performed and recorded with Ensemble Signal (conducted by Brad Lubman), working directly with composers from Steve Reich to Helmut Lachenmann and performing on CDs for Harmonia Mundi, Mode, Orange Mountain, and Cantaloupe Records. He is a frequent collaborator with many new-composed music groups including Alarm Will Sound, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Novus NY, Eighth Blackbird, and more. He has also worked as a music director, notably, directing composer Julia Wolfe’s “Traveling Music” at the Bordeaux Conservatory, France, 2009, and has conducted performances of “Music for Airports” with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, choir, and guest musicians from Melbourne to Buenos Aires.

He has recently been the subject of profile features in Downbeat, NewMusicBox and Critical Read. He is a F. Arthur Uebel Artist, D’Addario Woodwinds Artist, and Conn-Selmer endorser.

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