Thoma Simaku
Encyclopedia
Thomas Simaku was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
Fellowship in Composition at Tanglewood Music Centre in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with Bernard Rands
Bernard Rands
Bernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...
.
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
with Brian Ferneyhough
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Simaku's music has been performed throughout the UK and Europe, as well as in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the Far East. In 1995 his work "Epitaph" for String Orchestra was selected by the International Jury for the ISCM World Music Days in Germany - the first ever Albanian music to be included in this prestigious festival. Subsequently Simaku's works have been selected by the International Jury at the World Music Days of 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.
Other international festivals where his music has been performed include
Music Biennale Zagreb
Music Biennale Zagreb
Music Biennale Zagreb is an international festival of contemporary music in Zagreb, Croatia, organized by the Croatian Composers' Society. The Biennale, founded by Milko Kelemen and held every spring of the odd years since 1961, has become one of the most important festivals of contemporary music...
, Tanglewood, Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
, Miami, Cagliari
Cagliari
Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu...
, KlangSpectrum (Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
), Viitasaari
Viitasaari
Viitasaari is a town and municipality of Finland.It is located in the Central Finland region. The town has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water...
(Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
), Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
(Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
), Odense
Odense
The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...
(Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
), Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Automne de Tirana amongst others.
Broadcasts of his music include those by Radio-France, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
-Radio 3, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Austrian, Polish, Croatian, Danish, Portuguese, Hellenic, Swedish, Romanian, Swiss and Icelandic radio stations.
Performances of his works include, among others, those given by the Arditti Quartet
Arditti Quartet
The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974. The quartet is associated particularly with contemporary music.-Early history:The quartet was founded in 1974 by violinist Irvine Arditti together with John Senter, Levine Andrade and Lenox Mackenzie...
, Kreutzer Quartet, English Northern Philharmonia, MusikFabrik
Musikfabrik
The musikFabrik is an ensemble for contemporary music located in Cologne. Their official name is: musikFabrik Landesensemble NRW e.V. .-Overview:...
, Slovenian Radio-Television Orchestra, European Union Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam New Music Ensemble, the New London Orchestra
New London Orchestra
The New London Orchestra, based in London, was founded by Ronald Corp in 1988, to perform rarely heard 20th century works. The Orchestra and Corp pioneered the music of Martinů, now a familiar name with concert-goers, and have helped re-establish the popularity of ‘British Light Music' through a...
, Goldberg Ensemble
Goldberg Ensemble
The Goldberg Ensemble is a string ensemble formed in 1982 in Manchester, UK. The group also performs as a chamber orchestra, a festival opera company, a chamber ensemble, and a contemporary ensemble....
, Tokyo Phonosphere Musicale, London's Kreutzer Quartet, Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra, Rubinstein Quartet, Copenhagen Sinfonietta, Luxembourg Sinfonietta
Luxembourg Sinfonietta
The Luxembourg Sinfonietta is an orchestral ensemble for contemporary music in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Initially it consisted of 10 to 15 instruments, including tuba, accordion, mandolin and harpsichord but now typically extends to clarinet, clarinet bass, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone,...
, Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra, Capricorn Ensemble, Norwegian Medieval Trio, Tyrolean Ensemble of New Music (TICOM), The Duke String Quartet, and Tirana Asmus Ensemble.
His solo works have been performed by the internationally acclaimed soloists such as Peter Skaervard-Sheppard
Peter Skaervard-Sheppard
Violinist Peter Skaervard-Sheppard is the dedicatee of over 150 new works. He has collaborated with Nigel Clarke, David Matthews, Michael Finnissy, Hans Werner Henze, George Rochberg, William Bolcom, Dmitri Smirnov, Jorg Widman and John Wall....
, Rohan de Saram, Noriko Kawai, Ian Pace
Ian Pace
Ian Pace is a British pianist.Pace studied at Chetham's School of Music, The Queen's College, Oxford and the Juilliard School in New York. His main teacher was the Hungarian pianist György Sándor....
, Vania Lecuit and Laura Willcox.
Simaku's music is published in England by University of York Music Press and Emerson Edition. In 2000 he was granted British Citizenship and now lives in York with his wife and two daughters. Simaku is a Senior Lecturer in Composition at the University of York.