Thomas Flippin is an advocate for new-music and equality in classical music. In 2018, his guitar ensemble, Duo Noire, released their internationally-acclaimed album, Night Triptych, featuring "truly pathbreaking" and "greatly satisfying" premiere recordings of works by diverse women composers they commissioned in 2015. It was named Editor’s Choice for classical music albums that year by both All Music and I Care if You Listen.

Flippin is also an accomplished composer, with recent commissions and performances with the New York Philharmonic, American Composers Forum, Juilliard, the Guitar Foundation of America, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society in partnership with the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

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Up Next:

2024 -2025

• April 2025: Flippin performs Chris Brubeck Double Concerto for Classical and Blues Guitars

• February 23rd: Flippin’s String Quartet performed by Juilliard students & the Ivalas Quartet as part of a Juilliard showcase @ Chelsea Factory, NYC 7:30 p.m. Featured in WNYC interview with Arun Venugopal and a Gothamist article.

• February 15-17: Flippin’s String Quartet performed by students for Minnesota Music Educator’s Association Midwinter Convention. Featured by American Composers Forum.

• Feb. 21-23: Virginia —Duo Noire @ Tidewater Classical Guitar Series.

• February 29th: Ben Verdery performs Flippin’s Nocturne for People Who Can’t Sleep @ Northern Illinois University.

• March 2nd-3rd: Peabody Conservatory FretFest. Premiere of Flippin’s commissioned work for guitar orchestra, Childhood, featuring Manuel Barrueco’s guitar studio ensemble and preparatory students and faculty.

• March 16th: Ben Verdery performs Flippin’s Nocturne for People Who Can’t Sleep @ Seattle Classical Guitar Society.

• May 3rd, 2024: Premiere of Flippin’s newly commissioned work, Wrecked, for guitar orchestra. Commissioned by the New York City Classical Guitar Society with support from the Augustine Foundation.

• May 9th: Flippin performs at Diller-Quaile gala honoring Nathalie Joachim in NYC.

• June 6-9: @ Cleveland for James Stroud Competition. Premiere of Flippin’s composition set-piece Nail-Biter and judging.

• Summer: Residency in Michigan TBA

• September 2024: Duo Noire @ University of Denver Guitar Festival

2023 -

• October 13-14: Michigan @ Interlochen Center for the Arts String Day Academy.

• September 15: Brooklyn @ National Sawdust with Alicia Hall Moran, Brandon Ross, James Moore and The Hands Free and many others.

• September 30th/Oct.1: Tennessee @ Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Flippin premieres a double concerto written by Chris Brubeck w/ conductor Robert Moody.

• September 21st: Ben Verdery performs Flippin’s composition “Nocturne for People Who Can’t Sleep” at the McCallie School in Tennessee.

• July 28: Bard College Spiegeltent with Alicia Hall Moran, Tony Scherr, Steven Herring & LaFrae Sci.

• June 2023: Duo Noire’s next album to release on Innova Records under the American Composers Forum.

• June: Flippin assumes new position of Guitar Department Chair at the Diller-Quaile School of Music, NYC.

• June: NYC @ Guitar Foundation of America Convention. Premiere of Flippin’s new composition “Into the Light,” inspired by the Bibles’ Book of Micah.

• April: Flippin’s string quartet The Lost Village of Seneca, premiered in joint commissioning project with Juilliard, The New York Philharmonic, and American Composers Forum (Composing Inclusion).

• April: Duo Noire @ Chicago with Lead Guitar.

• March 30-April 1st: Duo Noire @ Seattle for Northwest Guitar Festival

• March: Duo Noire @ Virginia for Loudoun County Guitar Festival

• March: Flippin’s arrangement of spiritual Oh Mother Glasco performed by the guitar department at Diller-Quaile School of Music, NYC.

• March 4: San Francisco Conservatory of Music Prep division performs Flippin’s composition Passacaglia for Minneapolis.

• February 25: Ben Verdery performs Flippin’s composition Nocturne for People Who Can’t Sleep at Miami International GuitArt Festival 2023. (canceled due to illness)

• February 10/11: Ben Verdery performs Flippin’s composition Nocturne for People Who Can’t Sleep at Peninsula Guitar Series in Palo Alto and University of California Santa Cruz.

• February 3-5: Duo Noire in Denver @ Metropolitan State University

• January 29: Ben Verdery performs Flippin’s composition Nocturne for People Who Can’t Sleep at Yale University Sprague Hall.

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