Joshua Thomas

Saxophonist Joshua Thomas has quietly built a robust career based in eastern Connecticut on the foundations of high musical standards, a love of performance and education in a variety of styles and settings, and engaging interaction with audiences. Since winning a coveted position as a full-time musician in the United States Coast Guard Band in 2000, he has performed hundreds of concerts around the world as a featured soloist, chamber musician, and a member of large ensembles. Away from the military, Thomas is active in performance and education. He routinely gives recitals at artistic spaces, presenting standard works from the saxophone’s repertoire as well as premiering new compositions. A proponent of new music, Thomas has commissioned and premiered over 60 new works, from concertos, to electro/acoustic and unaccompanied works, to chamber music. To date, his discography consists of 14 recordings as a soloist, chamber musician, and member of the New London Big Band. An in-demand teacher, Thomas is on faculty at Eastern Connecticut State University and Connecticut College, and have previously served on faculty at the Hartt School of Music and Central Connecticut State University. Thomas received his Bachelor of Music Education at Michigan State University, Master of Music in performance at Louisiana State University, Master of Arts in music theory at Connecticut College, and Doctorate of Musical Arts in performance at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music.