Thad Anderson is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Central Florida, where he coordinates the percussion studies program and teaches courses in music composition and technology. Joining the faculty in 2009, Anderson also presides over the Collide Contemporary Music Series and Festival. Anderson is a versatile performer and pedagogue with focused interests that span contemporary music, historic American percussion ensemble repertoire, composition, design, electro-acoustic music, conducting, and technology. He is a percussionist with the Ensemble P4 piano/percussion quartet.
Active as a solo, orchestral, and chamber musician, some of Anderson's performance credits include the Accidental Music Festival, Victoria Bach Festival, Austin Chamber Music Center, Timucua Arts Foundation, Round Top Festival-Institute, Syracuse Society for New Music, Make Music New York, Winter Park Bach Festival, Days of Percussion in Florida, Texas, Idaho, and Oklahoma, the Texas and Florida Music Educators Association conventions, Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Austin, Waco, and Brevard Symphony Orchestras, and as a guest soloist with Conspirare and the Monroe Symphony Orchestra. Anderson frequently presents clinics, lectures, and performances around the United States and as far as Bangkok, Thailand.
Anderson specializes in the creation and performance of new music through commissioning and collaborating with composers. Some of these projects have produced new works by Paul Lansky, Marc Mellits, Zack Browning, Steven Snowden, Jonathan Kolm, John Serry, Martin Bresnick, Halim El-Dabh, and Travis Jeffords. Also active as a composer, Anderson wrote and recorded the soundtrack for the award winning documentary film Standard Deviation. Anderson self-publishes original works through +Two Media. Universal Editions, Santa Barbara Music, and Alfred, also publish some of his projects.
