Tom Schnauber

German-American composer Tom Schnauber is Co-Founder of the Boston-based arts organization WordSong, and a former co-president of Composers in Red Sneakers, Boston. He holds a Ph.D. in composition and theory from the University of Michigan. He has also studied French horn performance, ethnomusicology, and did a small stint in Hollywood scoring films no one will ever see. He has taught music at St. Olaf College, Indiana University, Emmanuel College, and New England Conservatory’s prep school.

A versatile composer, Schnauber enjoys writing for a variety of ensembles. His list of more than 60 works includes music for unaccompanied instruments, chamber ensembles, solo voice and vocal ensembles, string orchestra, percussion ensemble, and symphony orchestra. He has also written three regularly performed children’s musicals and one irregularly performed comic chamber opera, as well as incidental music for numerous theatrical productions for Toledo University, Coe College, and Emmanuel College.      

Schnauber has won several awards for composition, including both the grand prize and the music director’s prize from the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin’s 2006 International “Homage to Mozart” competition; the American Composer’s Award from the Columbia Orchestra; and the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Meritorious Achievement Award for Original Musical Score. Excerpts from his ungrand opera With Such Friends were selected and performed by the New York City Opera as part of the VOX 2007 Showcase of New American Opera. The entire opera was premiered in August, 2010, by the Bluegrass Opera in Lexington, KY.

Schnauber’s music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe by ensembles such as the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, the Columbia Orchestra, the NIH Philharmonia, Freon Ensemble, the Ulysses String Quartet, and The Great Noise Ensemble. He has received commissions from ensembles such as the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, The Cambridge Madrigal Singers, The Shakespeare Concerts (Boston), Brave New Works, and the Falls Church Chamber Orchestra. Publishers of his music include Dramatic Publishing, Imagine Music Publishers, and Classical Vocal Repertoire. A CD of his music for strings entitled Death and Waltzes, performed by the Russian String Orchestra,is available on the Quartz label.

In addition to writing music and teaching, Tom Schnauber has conducted various ensembles, including the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra, the Minnesota Symphonic Winds, and a fully staged production of The Gondoliers by the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society. He is an avid collector and passionate listener of LPs and CDs, and a proud Trekkie and Whovian.

For more information, please visit: www.tomschnauber.com