Shortly after this incident, which left Tom's relatives staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at his impromptu performance, an enormous upright grand piano (manufactured by the Starck company - German for "impossibly huge and perpetually out of tune") was wheeled into the Thomsen house, where it took up most of the living room, and Tom began to take lessons and practice on it during most of his waking hours.

Several years, recitals and performance awards later, Tom began performing his own compositions for an audience. The pinnacle of his high school career came in 1997, when, as a senior at Elkhorn High, he performed his chamber piece "Rain Dance" to an audience of five hundred, and six months later, performed Edward Greig's Concerto in A minor, accompanied by the Elkhorn High School concert band. The only other time Tom had ever been as nervous as the night of that performance was when he proposed to his fiance', Tina, several years later.

It took eight full-grown farmers to maneuver the piano (without wheels) into the Thomsen living room.

Tom has performed on the mainstage with CCL and has toured across the U.S. with their touring company since 2001. www.chicagocitylimits.com

Tom attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota for two years. He studied composition and piano performance and received numerous awards and recognition for his work in these areas, including the best composition award, the most original composition award, and best performance in his sophomore year. It was at this time that he recorded his first album "264 Keys" with fellow pianists Andrew Hussey and Daniel Cavanaugh. He also accompanied many bright opera soloists, worked as accompanist to the ever-classic "Fiddler on the Roof", and assistant music-directed "Into the Woods". He also wrote the soundtrack and score for "Species: The Musical", based on the movie "Species", written and directed by fellow student Noah Warren. At least 50 people saw this remarkable feat of college student ingenuity. It was seriously good. No, seriously. Alas, he never intended to be a music teacher, as his professors attempted to admonish him to be, so he set out for New York to claim his music career.

Tom recently traveled with Johnny Lunchpail to Louisville, Kentucky to perform at the Improvapalooza festival, and performs with them regularly at the People's Improv Theater in Manhattan. www.johnnylunchpail.com	Shortly after arriving in the city, Tom began working with an Off-Broadway theater company, Snapper-Bear studios, and worked as musical director, composer and orchestrator for the musical "God?". He composed the score for his first short film, "Smile", shortly after "God?"'s final performance. "Smile" went on to win awards for best director, best cinematography and best film in the Hofstra film festival of 2000.
	He then began to perform several nights a week at different improv theater spaces. Tom has performed improv piano with and music-directed "The Improvoholics", "GOGA", "Chez Improv", "The Chainsaw Boys", "Tom Soder's Sunday night Jam", several different shows at Gotham City Improv, and has toured across the U.S. with the Chicago City Limits touring company. He is currently doing long-form improv with the all-male group "Johnny Lunchpail" and the improvised soap opera troupe "Chstity Cove" (www.chastitycove.com ).	The Improvoholics: one of the many improv comedy troupes Tom has worked with in New York City. www.improvoholics.com Tom has performed on the mainstage at Gotham City Improv and toured with them since 1999. www.gothamcityimprov.com
While performing on the improv stage, Tom joined forces with rock 'n roll singer/songwriter Eytan Orin. He worked with Eytan on a plethora of songs for the band "The Diamond Club", where Tom sang back-up vocals and played keyboards. Their main shows headlined many of the Upper West Side's hotspots. Then, the cabaret world beckoned. Tom has accompanied countless cabaret singers and actors, the most notable being Mary Birdsong (www.marybirdsong.com)(Women's awareness benefit at the Duplex), and Nick Reese (Gogo Dancers on the Run).   Tom then wrote the score for the hit play "The Curious Spectacle of Carla Dobson Coppola, Law-Abiding Citizen". Sure, it's a long title, but so is the list of accolades from audience members and critics who came to see the production several times while it was performed at the Producer's Club in 2002.

Tom scored his first feature film for emmy award-winning director James Ronald Whitney (www.tellingnicholas.com) in 2002. Not only did he compose the score, modern dance piece (for award-winning choreographer Daniel Catnack) and soundtrack for "Games People Play: New York", but during the 72-hour shoot where he managed to get three fitfull hours of sleep, he also worked on location as a production assistant, assistant hidden camera operator, musical director (he had 1/2 hour to teach the entire cast a song which they would need to know verbatim for their next scene), and "urine monitor" (don't ask..... trust me). After the dust had settled, a brilliant film was born. It has already made it's way around the U.S., earning shining reviews and clamoring audience members at the CineVegas Film Festival (www.gamespeopleplaythemovie.com).

While in post production for "Games: New York", Tom happened to meet director Eric Perlmutter in Grand Central Station. Since he was the only one wearing a suit (it was a Sunday morning and Tom was on his way to church), Eric asked if they could film him walking around, as if he were commuting to work. After this oscar-worthy performance, the two started talking, and it became clear that the director was looking for a score composer. Can anybody say "Kismet"? So, Tom wrote the score for "Season of Youth", which went on to win the best actor award at the Malibu Film festival of 2003.

Tom then started touring the Southwest with Leslie Clemmons' (www.leslieclemmonsmusic.com) rock band of the same name to promote her new album, "Stop The World". Rod Clemmons, Leslie's husband and producer, plans another tour after finishing their second album, with Tom behind the keyboards once again.

Tom music directed this spoof of "Wuthering Heights" in 2001 at the Instant Theater in Manhattan.

After touring with Leslie, Tom started working with producer Cliff Watts on an album for an independant recording label Divine Inspiration Records, and orchestrated, arranged and recorded 6 songs within a one month period. The album is due to release by 2004, and live performances of the Christian-Rock album are scheduled throughout the year, starting in Harlem.

Tom's career was put on hold for a bit, because a new production came into his life that required his utmost attention: writing the music for his own wedding! Tom proposed to Tina Jones on Christmas of 2002, and the happy couple was wed in a small, private ceremony in their living room in March of 2003. The big ceremony with friends and family in attendance was in May, and Tom had just enough time to write the entrance music for himself and his bride, as well as the medieval pre-ceremony dance performed by the wedding party. Since then, Tom has written the theme song for the MNN show "Knight Time" starring Marcus Knight of Hip-Hop and R&B fame, and is currently writing the score for "Games People Play: Hollywood" as well as writing a musical with fellow collaborator Bill Tompkins.

Tom and his wonderful wife, Tina, at their rehearsal dinner.

Tom has always enjoyed the ability to play anything he hears, so think of a song. Go ahead, think of one. Any song. From the radio, a movie, whatever. Got it? Good. Now, keep that song in your head, because if you ever catch Tom behind a piano, you should ask him to play it. If he's heard the song at least once, he'll most likely be able to play it for you. The problem is, when he is sitting behind a piano, he asks folks for a request, and no one can ever think of a song, so Tom just goes off on some Billy Joel medley and no one ever really thinks of a song, and they all sing the chorus to "Piano Man" late into the night. So keep that song in your head, dear reader, and remember it when you next see him behind his instrument.

Tom would like to thank you for reading this whole bio. It was a labor of love, and it took over two decades to write. Many thanks!

~Tom Thomsen