Augusta Read Thomas (born in 1964 in Glen Cove, New York) was an Associate Professor on the composition faculty at the Eastman School of Music from 1993-2001 and is now a Professor of Music at Northwestern University. She is the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra until May 2006. She studied at Northwestern University, Yale University, and at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

She was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University from 1991 to 1994. Seven years after graduating from the Royal Academy of Music, she was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Oliver Knussen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Manfred Honeck, Hans Vonk, George Benjamin, Leonard Slatkin, and others have programmed her work. Solo vocalists including Christine Brewer, Carmen Pelton, Christine Brandes, Dorothea Roschmann, Rebecca Karpoff, Barbara Ann Martin, Simone Nold, and Elizabeth Norman have sung her vocal music. Ms. Thomas' orchestral works have been performed by the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony, and other major orchestras around the world. Her chamber music works have been performed by the Aspen Music Festival, the Tanglewood Music Festival, Chanticleer, the Atelier Ensemble, Caramoor Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and many other ensembles.

Upcoming projects include Chanting to Paradise for soprano soloist, large chorus and orchestra, commissioned by the NDR and Christoph Eschenbach for a premiere in November, 2002; In My Sky at Twilight for soprano and ensemble, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's MusicNOW Series, for a premiere on December 1, 2002, Pierre Boulez conducting; and new works commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC, and The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Her discography includes Love Songs and The Rub of Love recorded by Chanticleer on Teldec, which won a Grammy in 2000, and recordings on GM, Grammofon AB BIS (Sweden), the Louisville Orchestra's New Dimensions Series, Albany Records, CRI, 4-TAY, Centaur, and Open Loop. Passion Prayers was recorded on CD by Scott Kluksdahl and Philadelphia's Network for New Music and is available on Albany Records. Ms. Thomas’ work has been featured on NPR's "Morning Edition." as well as on Minnesota Public Radio's "The Composer's Voice." She was a Master Artist, leading a three-week composition program, at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She was twice a featured artist in a one-week program at the Conductor's Institute. Frequently Ms. Thomas undertakes short-term residencies in colleges and universities across the country. She studied with Jacob Druckman at Yale University; Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University. Ms. Thomas lives between Cambridge, MA; Chicago, IL; and Becket, MA.