Works performed by Earplay:

Chumash Songs
Sextet
Subito dopo
When You Were Born

John Thow (b. 1949), a native of Southern California, studied at both the University of Southern California and Harvard University. A Fulbright fellowship brought him to Italy, where he studied with Luciano Berio in Rome and Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. He returned to Italy under Harvard travel grants and the Rome Prize Fellowship in composition to continue study with Berio. In 1981 John Thow joined the music faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, after having taught at Harvard and Boston University. For several years he was music director of the Berkeley Contemporary Music Players. John Thow has received commissions and awards from many prominent performing groups and institutions in the United States and abroad. These include the Boston Musica Viva, Alea III (Boston), the Brooklyn Philharmonic, l'Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI (Rome), La Settimana Musicale Chigiana (Siena, Italy), Musical Elements (New York), the San Francisco Symphony, the Detroit Chamber Winds, North/South Consonance (New York), the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and the Berkeley Opera. John Thow has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, two from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Djerassi Foundation, the Yaddo Foundation and other organizations. Carl Fischer, G. Schirmer, Falls House Press and Theodore Presser publish his music. It is recorded on the Neuma, Music & Arts and Cantilena labels.