Michael Thurber

Symphony Guest Artist | Brooklyn, NY

Michael Thurber is a multifaceted artist whose career spans songwriting, bass performance, and production, guided by Duke Ellington’s principle: “There are only two types of music – good and bad. Make the good kind.” As a theater lyricist and composer, Thurber debuted internationally scoring Antony and Cleopatra for The Royal Shakespeare Company and has scored numerous productions for The Public Theater, including Merry Wives, Romeo Y Julieta starring Lupita Nyong’o, and Richard II with André Holland. His Broadway-bound musical GODDESS premiered to critical acclaim at Berkeley Rep in 2022. As a bassist, Thurber was a founding member of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert house band and has performed with artists like James Taylor, Willie Nelson, and Yo-Yo Ma. He co-founded the YouTube music collective CDZA, headlined the first YouTube Music Awards, and has produced/co-written records across R&B, indie, jazz, and classical genres, earning recognition from Downbeat and Gramophone. An adjunct professor at NYU's Clive Davis Institute and a Juilliard alum, Thurber tours with Grammy-nominated violinist Tessa Lark and continues to release music under his own name.