Thomas C. Baggaley - Bio
Thomas C. Baggaley is a composer, songwriter, musician, educator, husband and father. He was raised in Sandy, Utah. The oldest of seven children, he served a two-year religious mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Venezuela. Following his mission, he attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he studied music composition. His mentors at BYU included Dr. David Sargent, Dr. Michael Hicks, Dr. Murray Boren, and Dr. Stephen Jones.
After receiving his bachelor's degree, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles, again studying music composition. It was while studying at UCLA that he had the opportunity to study film scoring with acclaimed film composer Jerry Goldsmith as a part of Mr. Goldsmith's Regents Residency there. He also studied film scoring with Paul Chihara and music composition with Dr. David Lefkowitz, Dr. Ian Krouse, and Dr. Roger Bourland as well as acousitics and the psychology of music (specifically film music) with Dr. Roger Kendall.
After receiving a master's degree and advancing to candidacy for a PhD in music (both from UCLA), Thomas began to pursue a career as a film composer in earnest, but those efforts took a detour when he was offered a full-time teaching position at Salt Lake Community College. Thomas was responsible for the creation of most of the curriculum for two new commercial music associates degrees at SLCC, a media music degree - designed to teach students how to compose music for film, television, video games and other commercial uses - and a music recording technology degree - designed to help students develop the skills necessary to work in the music industry as audio engineers. He also served as composer-in-residence for the SLCC Black Box Theatre and has headed up the composition, theory and entrepreneurship areas of the school's music program for more than 15 years.
While teaching, Thomas has remained active as a performer and composer. He has scored and won awards for his work on various short films, performed as a member of various orchestras and ensembles, served as a founding member, lead composer and member of the administrative board for both the Salt Lake Pops Orchestra and Elacor (a professional electro-acoustic orchestra). He also served as Elacor's executive director and produced the orchestras debut album, Take Flight. His original works and arrangements have been performed by a variety of ensembles and orchestras He has a number of commercially available recordings, which can be found on all of the major streaming audio services, and sheet music for his original works are published through Quest Haven Publishing.
Thomas and the love of his life, Nora - his wife of 28 years - currently live in Saratoga Springs, Utah. They have three children, all of whom are now grown. They remain active in their church and in the community where they reside.
