Armington Lane Publishing

“Ms. Whitten Thomas has a conservative but imaginative harmonic vocabulary. The chords were quite beautiful and the progressions made sense, something very rare in 21st -century music. This was very skillful choral writing.”
- Harry Saltzman, New York Concert Review
(from her 2007 performance of Choral de Bêtes at Zankel Hall)

Christina Whitten Thomas’s music has been described as “intimate,” “uplifting,” and “an intoxicating blend of the sensual and the spiritual.” Having grown up in New England, her music is greatly influenced by the natural beauty and serenity of the Northeast. She also draws from the excitement of city life and the vibrant arts community of her current home in Los Angeles, California. Reflective of her life experiences, her compositions are an intricate fusion of the traditional and innovative, of the contemplative and dynamic.

Ms. Whitten Thomas received her Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Middlebury College in 2002 and her Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music in 2005. She has studied with composers Su Lian Tan, Morten Lauridsen, Donald Crockett, and Erica Muhl. Her works have been performed and commissioned by such organizations as the Middlebury College Orchestra and Chamber Singers, The Middlebury College Community Chorus, the USC Thornton Symphony, the USC Chamber Singers, the USC Apollo Men’s Choir, the Pasadena City College Chamber Singers under the direction of Donald Brinegar, the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers, the First Baptist Church of Worcester, Massachusetts, Vanguard Voices, and Voices of Ascension under the direction of Dennis Keene. In 2008, she was awarded an honorable mention for her piece Snow Change as part of the Vanguard Premieres competition. As a finalist in the Sorel Organization’s composition competition, Ms. Whitten Thomas had her choral work Choral de Bêtes premiered by Voices of Ascension in the Sorel Medallion Winner’s Concert held in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in October 2007. She was invited back to Zankel Hall in October of 2008 to hear Voices of Ascension perform Take Peace. Earlier in 2007, Take Peace was featured as part of a memorial mass for Pope John Paul II at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. She was a finalist for the 2006 National Association of Teachers of Singing Art Song Composition Award, a finalist for the Choral Arts Ensemble’s 25th anniversary commission, selected for the 2005 USC New Music for Orchestra competition, and the recipient of a commission in 2006 for choir and organ by the First Baptist Church of Worcester to launch their annual competition for new sacred music. In May of 2008, her new song cycle In the Garret, with text by Louisa May Alcott, was premiered by soprano Rebecca Sjöwall at UCLA. Her latest work, Three Songs of Life, was premiered by the USC Apollo Men’s Choir on April 26, 2009.

In addition to her composition, Ms. Whitten Thomas is an active vocal performer and teacher. She has given many solo recitals and has toured with the Middlebury College Chamber Singers in London, Oxford, Paris, and throughout New England. In Los Angeles, she has sung with the Angeles Chorale, the USC Concert Choir, and the USC Choral Artists in collaboration with the LA Philharmonic. She is currently the alto soloist at La Cañada Congregational Church is in demand as a guest soloist and choral singer. Ms. Whitten Thomas also runs a studio of piano, flute, and voice students.