namesake

Violinist Samuel Thompson has gained both audience and critical acclaim for his insightful, sensitive and musically intelligent performances of work ranging from Bach to that of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Samuel studied at both the University of South Carolina and Oklahoma State University, earning the Master of Music degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in 1998. His principal teachers include Kenneth Goldsmith, R...

Violinist Samuel Thompson has gained both audience and critical acclaim for his insightful, sensitive and musically intelligent performances of work ranging from Bach to that of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Samuel studied at both the University of South Carolina and Oklahoma State University, earning the Master of Music degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in 1998. His principal teachers include Kenneth Goldsmith, Raphael Fliegel, Donald Portnoy and David Rudge. Chamber music coaches include Norman Fischer, Paul Katz, Paul Ellison, David Peck, Robert Atherholt, Zeyda Suzuki, Pascal Verrot, Paul Kantor, Eric Halen and Brian Connelly.Highlights of the 2006-2007 season include the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Cortlandt Chamber Orchestra, his Chicago debut as first violinist of the EDU Quartet in a performance that was broadcast on WFMT-FM’s Fazioli Salon Series, and return engagements at the University of South Carolina School of Music. During the 2005-2006 season Samuel made his debut at the New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas in a multimedia staged recital conceived and directed by Peter Webster (“Little Women”) and performed in recital on the University of South Carolina’s USC Cares: Renewal Through Music series. A seasoned soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician, Samuel made his debut in 1989 with the Carolina Amadeus Players Chamber Orchestra during the inaugural season of the Koger Center for the Performing Arts, making his national debut wit the National Repertory Orchestra in 1998. A semifinalist in the 2000 New World Symphony Concerto Competition, Samuel has performed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with members of Orchestra X and Vaughan William’s The Lark Ascending with the Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra. Recent seasons include appearances as second violinist of the Marian Anderson String Quartet for Da Camera of Houston and performances in Houston, Miami, New Orleans and Baltimore. Recent chamber music partners include cellist Rebecca Carrington, Racheli Galay-Atman and Nathan Cook, pianists Saori Chiba and Joseph Rackers and soprano Tracy Rhodus. Samuel's longtime interests in dance, theatre, photography and jazz have resulted in numerous invitations to participate in collaborative projects including Dinner with America, a performance piece by Rajni Shah Theatre which is currently touring the United Kingdom. Samuel appeared onstage as 1994 stage production of The Glass Menagerie as the “fiddler in the wings”, and has shared the stage with the Black Door Dance Ensemble (Colony Theatre, Miami Beach), performance artist Ann Carlson in "Grass/Bird/Rodeo" (DiverseWorks, Houston), pianist/composer Mark Darnell Marquez (The Blue Nile, New Orleans), conductor Barbara Day Turner (Utah Festival Opera Company, Logan, UT), the Norwegian choir Skrük (New Orleans, LA). He can also be heard on Letters of Resignation, the debut album of The Western Civilization. Samuel became the subject of international media attention in 2005 for his impromptu performances of unaccompanied Bach in both the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans Basketball Arena during Hurricane Katrina, an event resulting in his inability to participate in the Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition which started two days after Thompson was able to leave the storm-ravaged city. He has been profiled by the Los Angeles Times, the Seattle Times, Strings Magazine, Jan Herman’s “Straight-Up” at Artsjournal.com, the Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, the Miami New Times, the San Antonio Express-News, Relevant Magazine, The Gamecock, China’s People in Focus Weekly and the Crescent City Chronicles, with his live performances and interviews appearing on National Public Radio’s “Day to Day”, WSCI-FM’s “Conversations with Joan”, KAHL-FM’s “Sonny Melendez Show” and KOSU-FM’s “Concerts from OSU”. In August 2006 Samuel was recognized by National Public Radio as one of ten artists whose work shows “their spirit, their spunk, and their commitment to Crescent City.” Maintaining a sense of loyalty to the New Orleans arts community, Samuel has organized and performed in benefit concerts from which the proceeds have been directed to the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra, these efforts being profiled in the September 2007 International Musician.