Andrew Thomas was born October 8, 1939 in Ithaca, NY. He studied with Karel Husa at Cornell University, with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and earned his M.M. and D.M.A. in composition at The Juilliard School. At Juilliard he studied with Luciano Berio, Elliot Carter, and Otto Luening. Dr. Thomas teaches and was the chairman of the Composition Department at the Pre-College Division at Juilliard from 1969 to 1994. In 1994, The Juilliard School appointed him the Director of the Pre-College Division. In addition to composing, Dr. Thomas performs as a pianist, conductor and, is a guest educator throughout the world. His many awards include a grant from The National Endowment for the Arts and a Distinguished Teacher Citation from The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars.

Dr. Thomas’s marimba concerto, "Loving Mad Tom," which was premiered by the Shreveport Symphony, and again performed by The Deutsches Symphonie Orchester/Berlin, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy with Evelyn Glennie as soloist. "... his arsenal of romantic ghost music from Weber to Berlioz to Liszt is recognized here, and sound-consciously conveyed into the modern idiom." - Jürgen Otten, Der Tagespiel. On January 4, 2001, Renée Fleming sang Andrew Thomas’s song, with lyrics by Gene Scheere, "I Just Found Another New Voice Teacher" with the Orpheus Strings on Live From Lincoln Center. Ms. Fleming commissioned and performed a new work by Dr. Thomas and Mr. Scheere in April, 2003 and Andrew Thomas accompanied her at Alice Tully Hall, when she received her Honorary Doctorate from the Juilliard School. Also at Lincoln Center in January 2004, Dr. Thomas conducted the premier of "A Samba," his work for two solo flutes, two flute choirs, and chamber orchestra for Carol Wincenc and Robert Longevin.

Many chamber organizations and orchestras have performed Dr. Thomas’s (Andy’s) music in the United States and abroad. His work for solo marimba, "Merlin," has become a standard among percussionists. Currently, a number of recordings of this work are available, including ones by William Moersch on Newport Classics, and Nancy Zeltsman on GM Records. The American Brass Quintet has recorded Dr. Thomas"s "Consonanza Stravagaanti" on their American Visions album and performed it at Lincoln Center in the autumn of 2003. Most recently, "Three Transformations" for duo marimba was recorded by Nancy Zeltsman and Jack Van Geem and is available on their "Pedro and Olga Learn to Dance" CD. Other works include: "Wind" for solo marimba, premiered by Makoto Nakura and, "The Heroic Triad," a commission from Twentieth Century Unlimited for guitar, percussion, and string orchestra.

Though he has taught in other parts of the world, Dr. Thomas has become a regular guest of the People’s Republic of China. In March of 2000, as a guest of the Chinese government, Dr. Thomas performed his composition for solo piano, "Music at Twilight", in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. While in China, he was the head western judge of a panel of pianists from all over the world judging the 2000 Chinese Works Piano Competition.

In December 2001, Dr. Thomas went to Nanning, China to conduct his "Three Scenes from the Summer Palace" and other works, to perform as a pianist and to teach master classes in composition. Dr. Thomas is an Advisor of the Guangxi Arts College and a guest conductor of the Guangxi Arts College Youth Orchestra. He returned to Nanning in October 2002 for further conducting and as the main Western speaker at a conference of middle school administrators and government officials from all parts of China.

In August 2003, and again in July of 2004, Dr. Thomas lectured, taught, and performed in Muju and Phoenix Park, Korea. In April 2004 he conducted the Shanghai Conservatory Youth Orchestra and the Nanning Symphony in a three-concerto evening with student soloists from Shanghai, Nanning and The Pre-College.

To be completed soon Andy’s "Valse triste," a solo marimba work, is being written for Pre-College graduate and now Pre-College teacher, Simon Boyar. Dr. Thomas will be a guest conductor of the Korean Symphony Orchestra during November of 2005. Scheduled for a 2007 premier, Andrew Thomas is now working on composing a new cross-cultural ballet for the Chinese government with an original story written by his partner Howard Kessler.