Violinist Samuel Thompson

American violinist Samuel Thompson has enjoyed a long and fruitful career, having earned admiration and acclaim for his elegant, insightful and passionate performances of concertos by Bach, Mozart, Elgar, Saint-Saens, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams and Vivaldi, chamber music of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries and works by contemporary composers. The Charleston, South Carolina native began his violin studies at the age of nine and received the Master of Music from Rice University in 1998 where he studied violin with both Kenneth Goldsmith and Raphael Fliegel and chamber music with Paul Katz, Norman Fischer, Brian Connelly, Paul Ellison and members of the Houston Symphony.Samuel first performed as soloist with the Carolina Amadeus Chamber Players in 1989 during the inaugural season of the Koger Center for the Performing Arts. Since making his national debut at the Breckenridge Music Festival with Robert Franz and the National Repertory Orchestra in 1998, Samuel has presented both as soloist and in recital in South Carolina, Houston, San Antonio, Buffalo, Miami, and New Orleans. He has also performed at the International Festival-Institute at Round Top and the New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas.An advocate of English music performance, Samuel regularly performs “The Lark Ascending” in concert and was a semifinalist in the 2000 New World Symphony Competition with a performance of the Elgar Violin Concerto. Samuel’s interest in contemporary music has led to a long association with composer John Cornelius, their friendship resulting in Samuel playing the premieres of Cornelius’ Conversion for Tenor and String Ensemble and Little Godivas for Harpsichord, Cello and Violin. Samuel has also been recognized for his performances of the solo sonatas of Bach, Ernest Bloch, Thomas Benjamin and Eugene Ysaye, with his thoughts on unaccompanied Bach performance appearing in Strings Magazine. Performances in upcoming seasons will feature the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, works by American composers Jennifer Higdon, Amy Scurria, and Gabriela Frank, works dedicated to Eugène Ysäye in honor of the 150th anniversary of the violinist/composer’s birth and violin duos by Miklòs Rozsa and Sergei Prokofieff.Samuel’s chamber music partners include pianists Bruce Frank and Joseph Rackers, cellists Kathleen Balfe and Rebecca Carrington and mezzo-soprano Givonna Joseph. Past seasons include performances as second violinist of the Marian Anderson String Quartet for Da Camera of Houston and with vocalists in the Utah Festival Opera Company. Samuel has also participated in interdisciplinary collaborative projects, including Alternate Roots’ “Uprooted: The Katrina Project”, “Surviving Katrina”, a multimedia staged recital conceived and directed by Peter Webster (Little Women), recordings with saxophonist Earle Brown, and appearances with Ann Carlson at DiverseWorks Artspace (Houston), the Black Door Dance Company at the Colony Theatre (Miami Beach), Portland, Oregon-based composer Mark Darnell Marquez and singer Philip Manuel (New Orleans). Samuel has been profiled in Jan Herman’s “Straight-Up” column at artsjournal.com, Polyphonic.org: The Orchestral Musician Forum, The Boston Globe, San Antonio Express-News, Strings Magazine, China’s Focus on People Weekly, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Articulate”, Newsweek, Relevant Magazine, the Miami Herald, The State, The Gamecock, Daily Oklahoman, Rice University’s Owlmanac and the Miami New Times. His live interviews and performances have been broadcast on South Carolina’s ETV Connections, National Public Radio’s “Day to Day”, KOSU-FM’s Concerts from OSU, The Sonny Melendez Show in San Antonio and other radio and television programs throughout the United States. In 2006 Samuel was recognized by Mark Silver of National Public Radio in a commemoration of Hurricane Katrina as one of ten musicians whose works conveys “their spirit, their spunk, and their commitment to Crescent City.”Currently living in Charleston, South Carolina, Samuel performs with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. His instrument, of which he is “the proud first owner”, was made in 1996 by Marilyn Wallin. Home | Browse | Search | Invite | Film | Mail | Blog | Favorites | Forum | Groups | Events | Videos | Music | Comedy | Classifieds