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Bruce A. Thompson
Professor of Music, Ph.D., Indiana University
Music Theory, Composition, World Music
129 Conservatory of Music
803 323-4611
thompsonba@winthrop.edu
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Bruce A. Thompson, a native of Washington, Indiana, teaches courses in theory, composition, and world music. Along with his wife, Sharon, he is founder and co-producer/director of Winthrop’s Olde English Madrigal Feastes , and Kaleidoscope , a multiple-arts summer program for high school students. Dr. Thompson received his B.M. ('61), M.M. ('69), and Ph.D. ('78) degrees in theory from Indiana University. At Indiana he also studied composition and counterpoint with Thomas Beversdorf, Roque Cordero, and Bernhard Heiden. He is a recipient of the Phi Kappa Phi Excellence in Teaching Award, and was honored by the establishment of an eponymously named Concerto Competition in 1998.
Thompson’s most recently competed work is Four Persian Poetic Fragments for unaccompanied chorus, which was written for, and premiered by, David Lowry and the York County Choral Society in Rock Hill on April 6, 2003. A commissioned work, Fantasy on the Wexford Carol, for organ, has received numerous performances including one at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Another popular work, Un Diario Español, Pagina 92, for horn duo, has become something of a signature work for the horn duo (MirrorImage) of Michelle Stebleton (Florida State University) and Lisa Bontrager (Penn State University) in their performances around the country. Many of Dr. Thompson’s works have been written for his son, David, who is principal horn of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. Three Anachronisms for trumpet, horn, and trombone was premiered in Barcelona. His Seven Epitaphs, for mezzo-soprano, horn, cello, and piano was awarded Honorable Mention in the 1983 International Horn Society Composition Contest. Another major work, Venatic Chronicle, for horn and piano, has been transcribed by his son for horn and band and for horn and orchestra, and has been performed numerous times in all versions. His compositions have been performed around the United States and in Europe, most notably in Belgium, England, Germany, and Spain.
In the U.S. Army from 1961-64, Thompson was an instructor at the Navy School of Music, Washington, D.C. He held Associate Instructorships as a graduate student at Indiana University and taught at Roosevelt University, Chicago Musical College; East Central University, Ada, Oklahoma; Brevard College, Brevard, North Carolina before coming to Winthrop in 1980.
Thompson's special interests as a theorist include the music of the contemporary African-American composer, T. J. Anderson, the subject of his doctoral dissertation. He received a Sinfonia Foundation grant for that work in 1974 and has published two articles (in Jazzforschung and The Sinfonian) on Anderson’s music. He has also presented papers on facets of Anderson’s music to the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the College Music Society and at a national meeting of the Sonneck Society. He served as instructor and Associate Director of Firespark: School for Gifted Students in the Arts, in Georgia, for twenty years. Thompson’s interest in the teaching of theory to high school students has resulted in his receiving eight S.C. state grants for Summer Institutes in the Teaching of AP Music Theory for high school music teachers.
Thompson has served Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, first as founder and chapter advisor to the Winthrop chapter, and, since 1995, as Governor of Province 30 (South Carolina and Eastern Georgia). He also chairs the Sinfonia Foundation’s Research Assistance Grants Committee, as well as the Arts Advocacy Committee. He has also been active with the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the College Music Society and Music Theory SouthEast, serving in numerous offices in those organizations. Dr. Thompson is vice-president of Thompson Edition, Inc., music publishers, and a member of Broadcast Music International (BMI).
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