Michael Thurber

American composer, songwriter, bassist, and actor Michael Thurber has a musical voice that defies genre and category. Thurber is the co-founder and music director of one of YouTube’s largest music collectives, CDZA. Within its first 2 years of formation, CDZA garnered over 26 million views and 290,000 channel subscribers. CDZA has since performed at TED@NYC, and they headlined the inaugural YouTube Music Awards alongside Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, Eminem, and MIA. 

As a composer, Thurber made his international debut in 2013 writing the score for Antony and Cleopatra, a co-production between The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Public Theater. Thurber also wrote the music and performed the role of Antonio in Twelfth Night at the Public Theater in 2017. He has been awarded creative residencies at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Theater Latte Da in Minneapolis, and SPACE on Ryder Farm in New York. In 2015, Thurber joined Jon Batiste and Stay Human as the bassist for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, through which he has performed with Yo Yo Ma, James Taylor, Cee Lo Green and Jack Black, among others. Thurber serves on the Board Of Directors for NPR’s From The Top.