Thomas Heinrich
Thomas Heinrich has been a member of the Colorado Symphony since 1997 and was Assistant Principal Cellist of The Santa Fe Opera orchestra (2009-18), Principal Cellist of the Grand Teton Music Festival orchestra (2001-08), Principal Cellist of the American Sinfonietta (1997-2003), and Asst. Principal Cellist of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein (1990).
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music, Thomas made his solo debut with
the Vermont Symphony at age sixteen. At the Bellingham Festival of Music, he appeared with Janos Starker and the American Sinfonietta performing the Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto. In Colorado, Thomas has performed as soloist with the Littleton, Lone Tree, and Aurora symphonies and the Up Close and Musical chamber orchestra. He has also performed at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Strings in the Mountains (Steamboat), June in Buffalo, and the Bellingham Festival of Music.
Thomas is a founding member of the Boulder Piano Quartet (BPQ), former ensemble-in-residence at the Boulder Public Library, and Trio Cordilleras (TC). Recordings include Lowell Liebermann Quintets with BPQ and Jon Manasse (Koch Int’L), and Las Puertas del Tiempo: The Music of Luis Jorge Gonzalez and Tango: Body and Soul with TC (Meridian).
Thomas’ performances have been broadcast across North America on CBC Radio’s Chamber Music at Noon, NPR’s Performance Today, and CPR’s Colorado Spotlight. As a chamber musician, Thomas has collaborated with Ida Kavafian, David Krakauer, Elmar Oliveira, the Cavani and Miami String Quartets, and members of the Takacs Quartet. He has worked with composers Fred Bretschger, Jon Deak, Phillip Glass, Luis Jorge Gonzalez, Clark W. Ross, and R. Murray Schafer.
Thomas has been a faculty member of Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Colorado at Boulder College of Music. His principal mentors and teachers include Leopold Teraspulsky, Alan Harris, and Aldo Parisot.
When not playing music, Thomas loves to spend time birding and photographing birds. Thomas’ photos have been published in several birding journals and newsletters as well as The Raptor Guide of Southern Africa. He displays his photos in web galleries at http://www.pbase.com/birdercellist. Other interests include mountain biking, backpacking, mountaineering, and rock climbing. Thomas has hiked and climbed 57 of Colorado’s 58 14ers, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and many peaks in the Tetons and North Cascades. Thomas lives in Boulder with his wife and their two children.