I compose music and play percussion. The influence of a childhood in California’s Silicon Valley of the 80s and 90s, as well as in the New York City contemporary music scene of the ‘00s and ‘10s led me to developing work drawing equally from electronic music, marching percussion, and contemporary classical music.

I released my third solo album True Stories & Rational Numbers in October 2020. A nine-movement work sequenced as electronic music but also fully scored for four keyboardists, it represents my investigation of the natural mathematics of rhythm and harmony, my search for a performance practice to incorporate just intonation into live contemporary music, and my personal fan-fiction about Hermann and Anna von Helmholtz. True Stories received its world premiere live performance at the Barbican Centre, London in November 2021 by the James McVinnie Ensemble.

Other recent work includes the score to Red Folder, a collaboration with playwright Rajiv Joseph for the Steppenwolf Theater’s STEPPENWOLF NOW series, and Marking Time, premiered in Tokyo by the Utari Duo as a combination live performance and animated film.

My first two records, the LP Everything Imaginable Comes True (2019) and EP Lot Hero (2017), draw heavily on the high-energy sound world of modern drum & bugle corps while incorporating luminaries of the New York City contemporary classical music scene in both familiar and unexpected capacities.

I’ve also been member of Alarm Will Sound for the past 15 years, which has given me the opportunity to work both as a performing percussionist and arranger on a wide variety of projects.

I’ll be releasing my next solo record, Stay the Same, in early 2023. Please say hello at chrispthompson.com