Violinist Samuel Thompson, who was caught on camera playing Bach for fellow hurricane survivors in New Orleans last week, had no idea he was being photographed by The (Baton Rouge, La.) Advocate — we posted the photo in Eyeballing Katrina — even less that it would make him something of a celebrity. [The photo has been taken down for copyright reasons. — Ed note.]
“I’m still overwhelmed at much of this,” Thompson emailed us, “not only of being trapped in the city but also that [my] one small event could end up all over the press.”
We grabbed the chance to ask him who he is and what pieces he was playing when he was stranded by the floodwaters.
The short answer: He’s a professional musician, born 34 years ago in Charleston, S.C., who took up the violin at age 9, and has studied at the University of South Carolina, Oklahoma State University and Rice University. He was playing the Adagio from Sonata No. 1 in G Minor (listen to a sample) and the Grave and Andante from Sonata No. 2 in A Minor (listen to a sample).
The long answer: He’d been working on those pieces for “quite some time,” having performed the G Minor in concert last year and having practiced the A Minor as part of the repertory for a competition he’d been slated to enter this week, the Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition. “In fact, I was supposed to be flying out right now for Gorizia, Italy,” he writes. “Well, that changed. So, now I’m planning for ’06-’07, which should include two other competitions.”
Because we only see the top of his head in the photo that made him what he jokingly calls “the world’s New Orleans violinist,” we asked him to send us a photo that showed him full on. Here he is, in a portrait by Ryan Brodie:
Samuel Thompson has played throughout the United States since 1989, when he made his solo debut with the Carolina Amadeus Players Chamber Orchestra. He made his national debut in 1998 with the National Repertory Orchestra, and he’s played in the orchestras of the Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Ballet, the New World Symphony (Miami), Mercury Baroque Ensemble (Houston) and the Louisiana Philharmonic (New Orleans).
The really long answer: His teachers include Kenneth Goldsmith, “the late (and GREAT)” Raphael Fliegel, David Rudge, Donald Portnoy and John Bauer. Other influences — “strong ones,” he adds — are Jorja Fleezanis, Laura Park, Rachel Jordan and Teiji Okubo. He also spent summers at the International Festival-Institute at Round Top, with the National Orchestral Institute, and the National Repertory Orchestra.
Additionally, he was a semifinalist in the 2000 New World Symphony Concerto Competition and served as acting second violinist of the Marian Anderson String Quartet in the summer of 2000. This year, he says, he has been auditioning for orchestras — “three in five months” — along with playing gigs and teaching. Finally, we should mention he’s a fledgling photographer and a poet who’s about to submit some of his New York poems for publication.
Break a leg, Samuel.
— Tireless Staff of Thousands
Postscript: Please see this update. Also, we’ve since obtained this photo of Samuel Thompson playing in the New Orleans Convention Center.
