Guitar
Phone: (941) 362-2991
E-Mail: tkoch@fgcu.edu
Office: Music Modular 6

Thomas Koch entered the Hochschule für Musik Köln in Germany at the age of seventeen. He graduated as a student of professor Dieter Kreidler in 1983. Thomas continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, where he graduated from the class of professor Hans-Michael Koch in 1984. Thomas participated actively in international master classes with renowned guitarists like Alexandre Lagoya, France and José Tomas, Spain. In 1984, Thomas was invited by Alberto Ponce to study with him at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, France.
    
In 1993, Thomas performed his first recital in the United States, where he appeared, among other places, at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City. 1995 marked the release of his highly acclaimed CD Souvenir de Paris, which received only the best reviews from critics in France, England, Germany, Japan and the United States. 1995 also marked Thomas’ Berlin debut recital at the Gitarre International concert series. In 2002, Thomas was invited by the German Ambassador to the United States, Wolfgang Ischinger to perform a recital at the German Embassy Auditorium in Washington DC.

Since taking up residence in Florida, Thomas has performed very actively as soloist, and a member of the chamber music group Trio Voilá. He was invited by the Sarasota Pops Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, the Venice Symphony Orchestra, and the Anna Maria Island Community Orchestra to perform concertos by Joaquin Rodrigo, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Antonio Vivaldi. Thomas was invited to perform Blue Ridge Frescos by American composer Laurence Sherr at the Escape to Create program at the Seaside Institute in Seaside, Florida in 1999. Thomas was a member of the faculty, and a performer at the Remscheid Academy for Cultural and Media Education in Remscheid, Germany during the Internationales Bergisches Gitarrenfestival in 2000 and 2008.
 
Thomas has worked closely with composers like Takashi Ogawa, John King, Paul Fetler, and Rex Willis, who wrote and dedicated new works to him. German International Radio, Deutsche Welle, featured Thomas around the world on a half hour radio show. He has appeared live with his trio, Trio Voilá (guitar, viola and flute) on WUSF 89.7 FM Radio in Tampa, as well as on ABC 7 TV in Sarasota, Florida.  

Thomas Koch is the founding president, and artistic director of GuitarSarasota, a nonprofit organization that promotes the education, appreciation and cultural significance of the classical guitar as a solo and chamber music instrument. GuitarSarasota presents an international concert series of world-class classical guitar performers, and organizes master classes with eminent teachers of the guitar.

Thomas Koch is currently on the faculty of Florida Gulf Coast University (Fort Myers, FL), Manatee Community College (Bradenton, FL), and he directs the guitar ensemble at Booker High School VPA program in Sarasota, Florida.

Links:  http://thomaskochguitar.com
             http://www.guitarsarasota.org