Tom Flaherty is a composer and cellist who makes music for humans and electronics. Beneath a simple surface, his compositions are often motivated by colliding rhythms, meters, and tempos, amid widely ranging levels of dissonance. The meanings and even identities of meters, harmonies, and single pitches are often called into question, and can be heard in different ways by performers and listeners. He earned degrees at Brandeis University, S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook, and the University of Southern California, where he studied with Martin Boykan, Bülent Arel, and Frederick Lesemann and cello with Timothy Eddy, Bernard Greenhouse, and Eleonore Schoenfeld. He currently teaches composition, theory, electronic music, and chamber music at Pomona College. Published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and American Composers Editions, his compositions have been recorded on the Albany, Bridge, Capstone, Klavier, New Focus, Reference, Microfest, and SEAMUS labels, and have received numerous awards, including a Grammy nomination in 2015.