Walter Thompson

Curriculum Vitae

Walter Thompson—Soundpainter, Woodwinds, Educator—has been Soundpainting for the past 33 years. He conceived the Soundpainting language in Woodstock, New York, in the early 1970s. To date, Thompson has developed Soundpainting into a multidisciplinary live composing sign language comprising more than 800 gestures. Thompson has composed Soundpaintings with many contemporary orchestras in many cities, including Barcelona, Paris, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Oslo, Berlin, Bergen, Lucerne, Copenhagen, and Reykjavik, among others, and has taught Soundpainting at the Paris Conservatoire; Eastman School of Music; Iceland Academy of the Arts; University of Michigan; Grieg Academy in Bergen, Norway; University of Iowa; Oberlin College-Conservatory of Music; and New York University, among many others. Thompson is founder of and Soundpainter for The Walter Thompson Orchestra and The New York Soundpainting Orchestra, both based in New York City.

Photo: Anja Hitzenberger

Selected Awards

New York State Council on the Arts—July 2005
The Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production FundGrant—September 2004
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers—June 2004
New York State Council on the Arts—March 2004
Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Professorship (University of Iowa)—March 2004
New York State Council on the Arts—October 2003
Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust—September 2003
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers—June 2003
Aplaudiment from Premis FAD Sebastià Gasch d’Arts Parateatrals—May 2002
New York State Council on the Arts performance grants—January 2002

Selected Major Performances

August 9, 2005	*Soundpainting 8905*	3 actors, 2 dancers, 22 musicians - premiered by Walter Thompson and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra and the New York Soundpainting Orchestra
June 12, 2005	*Soundpainting 61205*	150 musicians - premiered by Walter Thompson and Les Orchestres d'Harmonie, Conservatoire du Centre, Paris, France
June 9, 2005	*Anniversaire Soundpainting*	3 actors, 30 musicians - Premiered by Walter Thompson and the Paris Conservatoire Soundpainting Orchestra, Trabendo, Paris, France
May 21, 2005	*Soundpainting 5210*	18 musicians - premiered by Walter Thompson and the New York Soundpainting Orchestra
April 16, 2005	*Soundpainting 41605*	12 musicians, 3 actors, 1 dancer - premiered by Walter Thompson and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra, The Tank, New York City
March 26, 2005	*Soundpainting 32605*	15 musicians, 3 actors, 1 dancer - premiered by Walter Thompson and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra, The Tank, New York City
February 17, 2005	*Sirkus Soundpainting*	125 circus performers, 32 musicians, 1 visual artist - premiered by Walter Thompson, Oslo, Norway
January 11, 2005	*Soundpainting 11105*	25 instrumentalists - premiered by Walter Thompson and the Paris Conservatoire Soundpainting Orchestra, Paris, France
November 29-31, 2004	*Columbus—A Soundpainting Opera*	4 singers, 15 instrumentalists, 8 dancers, 1 visual artist - premiered by Walter Thompson and The Gamut Soundpainting Orchestra, University of Iowa, Iowa City
August 7, 2004	*Buck Fush*	1 actor, 1 dancer, 10 musicians - premiered by Walter Thompson and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra, The Colony Café, Woodstock, New York
April 4, 2004	*Back To It*	2 actors, 2 dancers, 10 musicians - premiered by Walter Thompson and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra, ABC No Rio, New York, New York
April 3, 2004	*SP Concerto*	1 actor, 9 musicians, solo pianist - premiered by Walter Thompson and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra with guest soloist Marilyn Crispell, Kleinert Gallery, Woodstock, New York
August 6, 2003	*WWN* #3	4 actors, 4 dancers, 10 musicians-premiered by Walter Thompson and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra, Medicine Show Theatre, New York, New York
August 2, 2003	*WWN #2*	2 actors, 4 dancers, 10 musicians, 1 visual artist-premiered by Walter Thompson and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra, NaCl Festival, Highland Lakes, New York
June 6, 2003	*WWN #1*	4 actors, 4 dancers, 14 musicians-premiered by Walter Thompson and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra, HERE Arts Center, New York, New York
March 31, 2003	*Audiencia*	1000-member audience-premiered by Walter Thompson and 1000 audience members, Premis Teatre Award Ceremony, La Paloma Theater, Barcelona, Spain
March 16, 2003	CeeBee	4 actors, 2 dancers, 15 musicians-premiered by Walter Thompson and the Paris Soundpainting Orchestra, Seven Lizards, Paris, France
February 28, 2003	Fredag	16 visual artists and 5 musicians-premiered by Walter Thompson, 16 visual artists from Hartwick College, and members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra, Hartwick College, Delhi, New York
February 10, 2003	*Iris*	4 actors, 3 dancers, 15 musicians, 1 visual artist-premiered by Walter Thompson and The Walter Thompson Orchestra, HERE Arts Center, New York, New York
February 5, 2003	*The Trip*	11 musicians-premiered by Walter Thompson and Gamut Soundpainting Ensemble, University of Iowa, Iowa City
August 30, 2002	*Fjord Resa #1*	2 actors, 2 dancers, 12 musicians-premiered by Walter Thompson and The Bergen Soundpainting Orchestra, Grieghallen, Bergen, Norway
March/April, 2002	*PEXO*	10 performances for 5 actors, 5 dancers, 2 visual artists, 15 musicians - premiered by Walter Thompson and The Walter Thompson Orchestra, HERE Arts Center, New York, New York

Selected Recordings

PEXO 111004 DVD (Dane Records)
SP4tet (Soundpainting string quartet) (Dane Records)
PEXO-A Soundpainting Symphony (Nine Winds Records)
Deconstructing Haydn (Novodisc Recordings)
Colors (Transient Glory Recordings)
Code of The West-with Joe Gallant (Scratchy Records)
The Colonel (Nine Winds Records)
Not for Rollo (Ottava Records)
Various-John Zorn's Cobra (Knitting Factory Works)
520 OUT (Dane Records)
Symphony of the Universe-with Wendy Mae Chambers ( Newport Classic)
Stardate (Dane Records)
ARC (Dane Records)
Four Compositions (Dane Records)