Composer Joel Thompson Signs with Primo Artists

The composer, conductor, and pianist is currently the Houston Grand Opera's Composer-in-Residence

Primo Artists has announced the signing of composer Joel Thompson for worldwide general management, effective immediately. Thompson currently serves as Houston Grand Opera’s first-ever Composer-in-Residence, holding a five-year residency that commenced in 2022. He has been awarded the 2023 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, a 2018 American Prize for his well-known choral work Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, and the 2017 Hermitage Prize. 

Thompson has been commissioned by organizations such as the New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Atlanta Master Chorale, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, Kansas City Symphony, American Composers Forum, and Sphinx Organization’s EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble — the latter of which he is a founding member.

Also a conductor, pianist, and educator, Thompson holds a B.A. in Music and M.M. in Choral Conducting, both from Emory University. He is expected to complete his D.M.A. in composition from the Yale School of Music in 2025, studying under Christopher Theofanidis.

An alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater New Works commissioning program, Thompson served as Director of Choral Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Andrew College and taught at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School. He was a post-graduate fellow at Arizona State University’s Ensemble Lab/Projecting All Voices Initiative and a composition fellow at the 2017 Aspen Music Festival and School.

“Joel Thompson is a brilliant composer and humanist, and one of the most important and promising voices of our time," Charlotte Lee, Founder of Primo Artists. "His work is bold and socially engaged, telling modern stories in brilliant, stirring, and truthful ways. Embracing America’s multi-layered musical heritage but deeply rooted in the here and now, his writing is not only intelligent, sophisticated, and deeply transcendent, but also startlingly beautiful and everlasting. We look forward to working with Joel, in collaboration with Just a Theory Press, on supporting the breadth of his work as a composer, conductor, pianist, and educator and building on what is undoubtedly going to be a significant career and legacy in the canon of classical music.”

Thompson joins Primo Artists' roster which includes violinists Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Nicola Benedetti, and Randall Goosby; pianists Beatrice Rana and Seong-Jin Cho; conductors Cristian Măcelaru, James Gaffigan, Gemma New, and Christian Reif; and composers Valerie Coleman and Wynton Marsalis.