Thomas Cabaniss

photo: The Juilliard School

Thomas Cabaniss (b. Charleston SC, 1962) is a composer for dance, theater, film, and the concert stage. 

Orchestra: Double Rainbow (double piano concerto for Michael and Jessica Chow Shinn); Come To Play, Drumlines, To Make Words Sing, Away I Fly (Carnegie Hall commissions for Link Up educational concerts performed by over 120 orchestras across the United States and around the world). 

Chamber: Songs from Joe’s Chapel (solo piano), Trinity Pass (for two pianos), String Quartets 1–6, One Silken Thread (for cello and piano four hands), Tiny Bits of Outrageous Love (piano four hands), Searching for Kristallnacht (mixed ensemble and singers). 

Choral: My Song Is a Fire (cantata for soloists, chorus, and orchestra), Three Sabbaths (for two oboes, string orchestra, and SATB chorus); Watchman, Heaven Is, Celestial Fire (for the Young People’s Chorus of NYC), Behold the Star (New York Concert Singers; New World Records). 

Operas: Firesongs, Denmark Vesey, The Sandman, The German Refugee, Otoyotoy, Camille’s Rainbow. 

Dance: The Reclamation, Noise + Speed, It’s All True, and The Short-Cut. 

Theater: Scores for Spoleto Festival USA, Yale Repertory Theater, Manhattan Theater Club, Dallas Theater Center, Center Stage Baltimore, Portland Stage Company, Pearl Theater, Primary Stages, Target Margin Theater, Juilliard Drama Division. 

Awards: Obie Award, 1998; Drama Desk nomination, 1998; ASCAP Foundation Award; score for The Lunch Date, an Academy Award-winning short film, 1990. 

Cabaniss helped to create the Lullaby Project at Carnegie Hall, serving young parents in shelters, hospitals, and prisons with collaboratively created songs for their children. He has been teaching at Juilliard in the Dance Division since 1998 and in the Music Division since 2007. He served as education director for the New York Philharmonic and Music Animateur at the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has written articles for Chamber Music Magazine and the Teaching Artist Journal. His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes, European American Music, G. Schirmer, and MusiCreate Publications. He is a member of ASCAP and an associated artist of Target Margin Theater.

News

February 21, 2024

The Inside Story: Thomas Cabaniss, FOUR ELEMENTS, and DENMARK VESEY

Albums

Denmark Vesey

Release Date: November 8, 2024
Catalog Number: NV6676
21st Century
Chamber
String Quartet
Composer Thomas Cabaniss and the Charleston Symphony String Quartet bring a new and exquisite recording of Cabaniss's third, fourth, and sixth string quartets to Navona Records. A complementary record to the previously released FOUR ELEMENTS, DENMARK VESEY completes Cabaniss's six-quartet series. Bearing endless musical complexities masked in an air of exquisite melodic simplicity, the Charleston Symphony String Quartet effectively captures the evolving story between each movement and each quartet. Just as easily as they lean into the melancholy lines of the sixth, whose narrative tells the viscerally emotional story of Denmark Vesey, a slave revolt leader, they capture the harsh futuristic elements of the fourth and the flowing dance movements of the third. No doubt, DENMARK VESEY again proves Cabaniss to be a composer of wide variety, a collaboration that cements his legacy in the string ensemble genre.

Four Elements

Release Date: January 19, 2024
Catalog Number: NV6580
21st Century
Chamber
String Quartet
FOUR ELEMENTS from Thomas Cabaniss showcases the composer’s creative versatility developed over three decades collaborating across various artistic disciplines. Writing music for dance, theater, film, and the concert stage, Cabaniss incorporates elements from all of these forms in his works for string quartet. Many of the movements started out as portions of dance and theater works, while others were crafted from the start for concert audiences. Performed by the Charleston Symphony String Quartet, FOUR ELEMENTS presents Cabaniss’s String Quartets 1, 2, & 5 — representing the first half of his output in this musical form. Taken together, the works serve as a fitting reflection of his wide-ranging pursuits and passions.