Thomas Little (b. 1996) writes music that toes the line between algorithm and intuition by using analysis as a tool to generate emergent narratives, lush textures, and distinct emotional affects. His work is inspired by history, poetry, linguistics, theatricality, and breath.
He's currently pursuing his PhD at the University at Buffalo on a Presidential Fellowship, where he’s studied with David Felder, Jonathan Golove, Robert Carl, and Tiffany Skidmore. Previously, he studied with Michael Rothkopf at the UNC School of the Arts (BM) and Yu-Hui Chang and David Rakowski at Brandeis University (MFA). His work has been performed and/or recorded by the Arditti String Quartet, Duo Gelland, Kyle Hutchins, Ensemble Court-circuit, [Switch~ Ensemble], the Lydian String Quartet, Sound Icon, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Gamelan Giri Murti, Eighth Blackbird, Low & Lower, and the Winston-Salem Symphony.
His best known work is as a YouTube educator: his channel Classical Nerd, an online library of lectures and video essays on music history and theory, has accrued a following of over 60,000 subscribers and 4,000,000 cumulative views, and has received funding from Humanities NY.