Faculty Profile

Thomas Rhode

M. Mus., New England Conservatory of Music
B. Mus., Ithaca College

Thomas Rohde, guitarist, has performed throughout the United States, Brazil and Taiwan as a soloist and chamber musician. Select performances include the 92nd Street Y in New York City, the Spoletto Festival in Charleston, SC, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Ryles Jazz Club.  He has performed with the New World Symphony, the New Bedford Symphony and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s production of the opera Angels in America.

Mr. Rohde’s performance and research interests cross the boundaries between classical, world music and jazz.  From 1997-2004 he was a member of the New World Guitar Trio with whom he recorded the CD, Exiled, released in 2000.  He has also played as a percussionist with the Cornell University Javanese Gamelan Ensemble, the Boston based Brazilian drumming groups Samba Tremeterra and Butakaxé and as a tenor banjo player with the Happy Feet Dance Orchestra. Currently, he performs regularly with Choro Democrático, an all-acoustic seven-piece ensemble that plays Choro, a popular Brazilian instrumental style. See www.chorodemocratico.com 

Rohde holds a Bachelor of Music in guitar performance from Ithaca College and Master of Music degree (with honors) in guitar performance from New England Conservatory.  He has conducted extensive research on Brazilian music, by traveling and studying percussion, dance and guitar in Brazil and the U.S. and has written several entries about Brazilian music in the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latin American Popular Music, to be published in Fall 2008.  Mr. Rohde is on the music faculty of Middlesex Community College and teaches guitar, music appreciation and seminars on Brazilian music and culture at Bridgewater State University.

Office: Maxwell Library 312E
Website: www.chorodemocratico.com

Last Modified: August 26, 2010