Thomas Janson is a professor of composition and theory and the Assistant Director of the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music. He studied composition with Leslie Bassett, Ross Lee Finney, George Cacioppo, George Balch Wilson, Richard Wienhorst and Doy Baker. His works have been performed by such distinguished ensembles as The New Pittsburgh Chamber Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the New York Motet Choir and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, as well as by major solo recitalists such as Marilyn Mason, organist. His compositions have been performed in major centers of musical activity such as Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche, West Berlin; Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris; Scandinavian Church Music Seminar, Amsterdam; Carnegie Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, New York City; and at many universities and colleges in the midwest and northeast United States. Six of his compositions have been aired nationwide over National Public Radio.
Grants, awards and prizes include Charles Ives Award, National Institute of Arts and Letters, National Endowment for the Arts Composer Fellowship Program, National Society of Arts and Letters, National Federation of Music Clubs, Faculty Research Grants at both the University of Pittsburgh and Kent State University. He holds the D.M.A. in composition from the University of Michigan. Janson is also a vocalist and as such has toured the USSR and appeared in many concerts in the U.S. as bass soloist.