Karen P. Thomas, composer and conductor, is the artistic/executive director and conductor of the Seattle Pro Musica. With Seattle Pro Musica she has produced seven critically-acclaimed commercial CD recordings, has received the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence and the ASCAP-Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, and is currently a finalist for The American Prize for choral conducting.

Ms. Thomas has appeared as guest conductor at the Bergen International Festival, International Conference on Women in Music, and the Alliance World Festival of Women's Singing. She has also conducted Seattle Pro Musica at the following events: * on the NPR radio show Saint Paul Sunday * several American Guild of Organists National Conventions * multiple American Choral Directors Association NW Division Conventions * Festival Vancouver in Canada

Her conducting has received critical praise for its "integrity and high purpose...delivered with taste and impeccable musicianship" and she has been lauded for her "charismatic...magnetic podium presence."

Ms. Thomas's compositions have been performed at several festivals, including the International Festival Donne in Musica in Italy, the Bergen International Festival in Norway, International Congresses on Women in Music in England and Spain, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Alliance World Festival of Women's Singing, and the Goodwill Arts Festival in the United States. Her compositions are also regularly broadcast on radio and television throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Her choral works are performed by groups such as The Hilliard Ensemble and have been praised as "superb work of the utmost sensitivity and beauty." Of her music theater work, Boxiana, the Seattle Times wrote: "One of the most dazzling interdisciplinary pieces to have hit Seattle in the past few years. Passionate, witty and daunting in its technical prowess...This is one knockout of a piece." Ms. Thomas's catalogue of compositions includes choral, orchestral, vocal, chamber, solo instrument, and theater works. She is a recipient of grants from the following organizations: * National Endowment for the Arts * The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters * New Langton Arts * Seattle Arts Commission * King County Arts Commission

Ms. Thomas has received fellowships from Artist Trust and the Washington State Arts Commission and was a fellow at the Oregon Bach Festival, Dorland Arts Colony, and Chorus of Westerly. Her compositions have been awarded prizes in various competitions, including the ASCAP Competition, His Majestie's Clerkes, Melodious Accord, the International Alliance for Women in Music, and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra.

Her commissions include works for the Grand Jubilee 2000 in Rome, the American Guild of Organists, and the Goodwill Arts Festival, among many others. In 1998 she received the first Distinguished Alumna Award from Cornish College of the Arts. Currently serving on the board of the American Choral Director's Association for Washington State, Ms. Thomas has served on the boards of the Conductor's Guild, the International Alliance for Women in Music, and the League-ISCM and has served on the faculties of Pacific Lutheran University, Evergreen State College, Cornish College, and Edmonds Community College.

The music director of a comprehensive music program at University Unitarian Church, Ms. Thomas holds advanced degrees from the University of Washington and Cornish College. She has studied and participated in master classes with Sir David Willcocks, Arvo Part, Peter Phillips, Dale Warland, Jacob Druckman, Leon Kirchner, William Kraft, Ned Rorem, Helmuth Rilling, William Bergsma, Tonu Kaljuste, Simon Carrington, and Gregg Smith.