Samuel Thompson Performs on Metropolitan Classical Series for Pro Arts Collective, Austin, May 13, 2012

[Samuel Thompson Photo: Levi Sim, SDesigns Photography]

Violinist’s Second Performance in Austin for the Pro Arts Collective

Features collaboration with Austin Chamber Music Center Artistic Director

Michelle Schumann

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Metropolitan AME Church

1101 East Tenth Street, Austin, Texas

3:00pm 

 

Baltimore, MD – Violinist Samuel Thompson and pianist Michelle Schumann will be presented in recital at the Metropolitan AME Church, 1101 East Tenth Street in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, May 13, 2012 at 3:00pm.  This recital, a part of the inaugural season of the Pro Arts Collective’s Metropolitan Classical Series, includes “Mother and Child” from William Grant Still’s Suite for Violin and Piano, Ernest Bloch’s Baal Shem – Three Pictures of Chassidic Life, and Antonin Dvorak’s Sonatina, Op. 100.

   

This appearance is Thompson’s second performance for the Pro Arts Collective, the first taking place during the 2011 Black Arts Movement (BAM) Festival.   Recipient of a Participation Prize during the 2011 Padova International Music Competition in Italy, Samuel Thompson is a Baltimore-based violinist increasingly in demand for both recital and chamber music engagements while receiving both critical and audience acclaim for his insightful performances, thoughtful programming and written musical commentary. His recent appearances in the Baltimore/Washington DC region include performances as a guest with the critically acclaimed Great Noise Ensemble and performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Musicians of Mercy Concert Series, Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore) and The Music Center at Strathmore. Elsewhere, he has performed in recital at the New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas, the Millennium Music Spotlight Series, the Columbia Festival of the Arts in South Carolina, Chicago’s Fazioli Salon Series under the auspices of WFMT-FM-Chicago, The Kent State-Ashtabula Classical Concert Series, the USC Cares: Renewal Through Music series at the University of South Carolina School of Music, Noontime at the Tabernacle Series in Logan, Utah and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto.  Also an avid and respected writer, Samuel was invited by Barbara Day Turner of the San Jose Chamber Orchestra to write a column for the orchestra’s newsletter.   That column, titled “Other Notes”, made its debut in January 2012.

Pianist Michelle Schumann has served as the Artistic Director of the Austin Chamber Music Center since 2006 and concurrently serves as both Artist-in-Residence and Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor where she is the founder and Artistic Director of the Hillman Visiting Artists Series.    Winner of the 2006 Janice K. Hodges Competition for Contemporary Music, Dr. Schumann’s recent international performances have taken her to the Cité de la Musique-Paris, Conservatoire de Gabriel Faure, and Conservatoire de Maurice Ravel in France; Birmingham Conservatory and St. Mary’s Cathedral-Haxby in England; the Roxy Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland; and the Salzburger Dom Cathedral and Konzervatorium Wien in Austria.   She has also performed with some of the finest musicians gracing the world’s stages, including violinists Soovin Kim, Charles Wetherbee, and Brian Lewis; cellists Clancy Newman and Sara Sant’Ambrogio; and string quartets including the Jupiter, Cavani, Carpe Diem and Chiara String Quartet.  Michelle’s other collaborations include the Meridian Arts Ensemble, American Repertory Ensemble, American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, the Austin Symphony Orchestra, and Long Beach Opera.

Co-founded in 1993 by Boyd Vance, ProArts (Pro Arts Collective) is a multi-disciplinary arts organization that focuses on producing, presenting, and developing artistic works that represent the diverse cultures of the African Diaspora. Through its eighteen- year history, ProArts has programmed through a prism of community cultural development that includes the Black Arts Movement performing arts festival and a number of community development projects.    ProArts has recently become a partner organization of the National Performance Network (NPN), a national organization supporting artists in the creation and touring of contemporary performing and visual arts.

   

Tickets for this concert can be purchased either by calling the Long Center at 512/474-LONG (5664) or online at www.proartsaustin.org.   For more information on Pro Arts, please visit their website at www.proartsaustin.org.   For more information on Samuel Thompson, please visit his website at samuelathompson.instantencore.com.

[William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]