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Dr. Thomas Conroy completed his doctoral work in music composition at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University. The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra premiered his dissertation, an orchestral work titled Symphonic Metamorphosis, on December 8th, 2006. For this work, he has been named the first recipient of the Paul Cooper Memorial Award in Composition. Composer Paul Cooper was one of the founding members of the Shepherd School of Music. While at Rice, he taught harmony, piano, and composition. He was the production manager of MUSIQA –a dynamic group of local composers who create and promote new music– for the past four years. He has sung with the Houston Chamber Choir. They commissioned him to compose a new work, This Is Why I Sing, to celebrate their 10th anniversary season and premiered it on May 9th, 2006.
Prior to attending Rice, he completed his Masters Degree in composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he won prizes in orchestral and choral composition. The conservatory orchestra premiered his Essay For Orchestra on their final concert of the 2002-2003 season. While living in San Francisco, he sang tenor with the Grammy Award winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus. In the summers of 2002, 2004, and 2005, he attended the European American Musical Alliance composition program at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. He received diplomas with highest honors and distinction and presented performances of his string, choral, and piano compositions. He is a member of ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers).
Prior to his recent academic experience, he toured as an actor with several Broadway shows including Crazy for You, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, and Grease, as well as Bernadette Peters’ concerts in San Francisco. Currently, he is writing the lyrics and composing music for a new musical drama: Searching for Spinoza.
