About Karen P. Thomas

Karen P. Thomas, composer and conductor, is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Seattle Pro Musica. Her compositions are performed and broadcast throughout the world, by groups such as The Hilliard Ensemble, NOTUS, and the Vocal Consort of Brussels. Her works are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing and Karen P Thomas Music (this website), and have been featured at numerous festivals and conferences.

A prize-winning composer, she has received grants from the NEA, The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and Meet the Composer, among numerous others. Among her many commissions are works for the Harvard/Radcliffe Choirs, the Grand Jubilee in Rome, the Washington National Cathedral, the American Guild of Organists, the Pacific Chorale, Chorus Austin, and the Association of Anglican Musicians.

As a conductor, Ms. Thomas has produced eleven critically-acclaimed CDs, and received the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence and the ASCAP-Chorus America Award. She has appeared as guest conductor and lecturer at international festivals in Europe and North America, and on the NPR radio show Saint Paul Sunday. She received a 2018 Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award and the 2012 Outstanding Choral Director Award for Washington State, and currently serves on the boards of Chorus America and the American Choral Directors Association (NW Division).

Her conducting has received critical praise for its “integrity and high purpose… delivered with taste and impeccable musicianship…” and she has been lauded for her “charismatic…magnetic podium presence” and “sweeping vision.”