Gates Thomas - Tenor
Gates Thomas has worked in New York as a freelance composer, multi-instrumentalist and recording producer since 1996. His chameleonesque musical worldview dates back to his first piano lessons in his native Davenport, IA, at age five — the repertoire was Beatles, Bacharach and Jobim. Through 11 years of violin study he gained a love of the orchestral and chamber music repertoires; his work with artists like Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Paula Cole, Jim Hall, Sadeo Watanabe and others has given him a wealth of experience in writing for the jazz, pop, classical, orchestral and electronic environments. Gates studied violin and American history at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL and voice, arranging and production at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He spent four years on the faculty at Berklee, teaching all manner of courses from entry-level music notation to vocal recording ensembles and advanced courses in arranging and record production. Upon moving to New York, Gates learned to speak Brasilian Portuguese, taught himself acoustic guitar, recorded Brasilian standards with his group The Bandidos, and taught at the Guitar Study Center of the New School University. Since 2008 he has served as Choir Conductor at Central Unitarian Church in Bergen County, NJ. In January 2010 he returned to Berklee part-time as Associate Professor of Contemporary Writing and Production, and commutes to Boston once a week for classes.