THOMAS WHITMAN (b. 1960) began his musical studies with cellist Harry Wimmer. He studied composition with George Crumb, Gerald Levinson, Max Lifchitz, and Richard Wernick, among others.  A Luce Scholar in 1986-87, he studied in Bali, Indonesia, with the late I Madé Gerindem.  Other prizes and honors include an ASCAP Foundation Grant; artist residencies at the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo; and commissions from many ensembles, including Orchestra 2001, Network for New Music, North/South Consonance, and the Philadelphia Singers.  Whitman’s compositions include chamber music, dance and film scores, and five operas.  On the faculty of Swarthmore College since 1990, he is the founder and co-director of Gamelan Semara Santi, the Philadelphia area’s only Indonesian percussion orchestra. He also directs the Chester Children’s Gamelan project, a volunteer effort that introduces Indonesian performing arts to schoolchildren in Chester, Pennsylvania. Selected recordings are available on Avie, North/South, and Albany Records. Sheet music is available through Cassiopeia Publishing.

Header Photo © Sasha Fornari