Short Bio

Thomas Whitman (b. 1960) began musical study with cellist Harry Wimmer. His composition teachers included George Crumb, Gerald Levinson, Max Lifchitz, and Richard Wernick. As a Luce Scholar, he studied in Bali, Indonesia with I Madé Gerindem. Other prizes and honors include an ASCAP Foundation Grant; artist residencies at MacDowell and Yaddo; and commissions from Orchestra 2001, Network for New Music, North/South Consonance, Dolce Suono Ensemble, and other ensembles. His compositions include chamber music, dance and film scores, and six operas. A member of Swarthmore College’s music faculty since 1990, he is the founder and co-director of Gamelan Semara Santi, a classical Indonesian percussion orchestra. A volunteer music teacher in urban public schools for over twenty years, he also collaborates with Modero Dance and Gapura Philadelphia to offer gamelan to Philadelphia’s Indonesian-American community.  Selected recordings are available on Avie, North/South, and Albany Records; sheet music on SubitoMusic.com.