The work of world-renowned composer Augusta Read Thomas will highlight this year’s Contemporary Music Festival from the Ohio State School of Music.

The five-day festival will begin April 7 and end April 11. The first three nights will feature two performances and a discussion on campus in Weigel Auditorium. For the final two nights of the festival, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra will perform concerts at the Ohio Theatre.

The festival will celebrate the music of Thomas, as members of the OSU School of Music, including the OSU Wind Symphony, will perform her work.

“Augusta Read Thomas is a well-known composer with so many achievements in life,” festival coordinator Donald Harris said. “Students would like to get to know her work. It’s very complex and interesting.”

One of the most successful composers of the last 20 years, Thomas’ work has been performed by almost every major orchestra in the U.S. Her non-traditional compositions give her work a distinct sound that appeals to many disciplines of music. In 2007, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in music.

The first night of the festival features original compositions by OSU professors Marc Ainger and Thomas Wells. Their work will display their technological and musical prowess by using computerized music to accompany solo instruments.

Ainger’s piece, “13forLucky”, is a 10-minute song played with a cello and a laptop. The laptop is used to modify and extend the sound of the cello, creating what Ainger calls a “hyper-cello.” Wells’ song will follow the same format with a saxophone and a computer.

“The virtuosity lies more in the subtle control of the sound of the cello and the control of the computer interaction,” Ainger said.

The diverse set list includes music by OSU alumni composers Gui Sook Lee and Igor Karaca, and OSU professors Jan Radzynski and Donald Harris.

“The beauty of a festival like this is that you are never quite sure what you will hear from piece to piece and from composer to composer,” Ainger said.

The second day of the festival is the convocation, which will be a discussion with Thomas and the students about her music and the festival.

The third night will include an Augusta Read Thomas sampler, as seven of her compositions will be performed by OSU students and faculty. This concert will feature her work for solo instruments and small ensembles, such as “Euterpe’s Caprice” for the flute and “Bubble Rainbow” for soprano and small ensemble.

The OSU Wind Symphony, led by conductor Russel Mikkelson, will perform Thomas’ complex, nine-minute piece “Dancing Galaxy.” Other songs to be performed include “Silhouettes,” “Love Twitters,” “Silent Moon” and “…a Circle Around the Sun…”

The festival will move to the Ohio Theatre for the final two concerts, where the Columbus Symphony Orchestra will perform Thomas’ “Prayer Bells.” The final concert will feature a performance of Thomas’ “Alleluia” by the Columbus Symphony Chorus.

All concerts will begin at 8 p.m., except for the April 8 convocation, which starts at 12:30 p.m. and the April 11 show which will begin at 3 p.m. All events on campus will be held at Weigel Auditorium.