Born in Colón, Panamá, percussionist Renato Thoms studied at the Conservatory of the National University of Heredia in Costa Rica, holds a Bachelor of Music Performance degree at Berklee College of Music and Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies at The Boston Conservatory in 1998. During his training he received numerous awards, including becoming a finalist in the 2000 Thelonius Monk Hand Drum Competition. He has performed with Rubén Blades, Eddie Palmieri, Danilo Pérez, Conrad Herwig, Brian Lynch, Ray Vega, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jon Lucien, Sol y Canto, Paquito D'Rivera, Victor Mendoza, Antonio Hart, Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez, and the late Hilton Ruiz.
In addition to the Latin and jazz idioms, Renato plays a variety of percussion styles including classical, pop and R&B, and has recorded with Eric Reed, Antonio Hart, Harvie Swartz, Edú Tancredi, Hilton Ruiz and The Boston Pops. He was a cast member-musician of the 2005 Broadway production of The Mambo Kings and performed at the 2006 Latin Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden with Ricky Martin. As an educator, Renato is a lecturer of Latin American percussion at Carnegie Hall. He has lectured and taught master classes at Holy Cross University, Rutgers University, LaGuardia Community College, Princeton University, The Crane School of Music and Conservatorio Superior de Música in Spain. Renato conducts and directs the after school Afro-Caribbean percussion programs at Wingspan Arts and PS87. He has toured with Sol y Canto and many other groups in NYC, also he is very active in the recording scene. Renato endorses Latin Percussion instruments.
New York City, NY; NYC