Thomas S. Clark began composing in the 1960s, writing mostly for brass, piano, his school band, and the Michigan Youth Symphony. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Michigan in 1976, where he studied composition with Pulitzer Prize winner Leslie Bassett. Other composition teachers included Eugene Kurtz and George Balch Wilson. Clark was trombonist for Contemporary Directions, Michigan’s Rockefeller Foundation supported new music repertory ensemble. He has also studied with virtuoso trombonist Stuart Dempster.
His compositions have been performed at festivals throughout the U.S.A., in Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, three times at “Moravian Autumn” the Brno International Music Festival in the Czech Republic, and at the Festival Internacional Alfonso Reyes in Monterrey, Mexico. His works are affiliated with BMI, and several are published by Borik Press (based in North Carolina) and recorded on Centaur Records. His writing has appeared in Perspectives of New Music, In Theory Only, Computer Music Journal, New Groves Dictionary of American Music, and Contemporary Composers published by St. James Press. Co-author with Larry Austin of the landmark book, Learning to Compose (1989), Clark also wrote an aural development textbook, ARRAYS, published in 1992. A more recent book, Larry Austin: Life and Works of an Experimental Composer, was published by Borik Press in 2013. Mapping the Music Universe, his fourth book, is somewhat a sequel to Learning to Compose.
After teaching at The University of Michigan, Indiana University, Pacific Lutheran University, and for 10 summers at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan, in 1976 Clark joined the music faculty of North Texas State University (now University of North Texas). There he developed the New Music Performance Lab and served as Chair of the Doctor of Musical Arts program and Director of the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia.
He went on to serve eight years as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and one year as Interim Dean of the UNT College of Music. In those administrative roles, he helped found the Texas Center for Music and Medicine, the Center for Shenkerian Studies, the Artist Certificate in Music Performance program, and the “ASPIRE” university program promoting academic success and student retention. He retired from UNT in 2004 and holds the title Professor Emeritus at that institution.
From 2004 through 2008, Clark served as Dean of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, an affiliated campus of the University of North Carolina system. He also served there as Executive Director of the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, an exciting professional training program.
Serving 2008-2020, Clark led the vibrant School of Music at Texas State University as Director and Professor of Composition. The years 2016 through the present have been unusually productive for him as a composer, completing more than 30 new pieces. Please visit his composer site, Thomas Clark – composer/digital artist, with photo-art image gallery.
Beyond photography, other hobbies have included sailing, bicycling, and an avid science reading habit. Retired in San Marcos, Texas, he spends time with six granddaughters and his wife, journalist Elizabeth Černota Clark. Check out her fascinating blog, Lidice Lives.
MAPPING MUSIC 