ANNOUNCEMENTS > PRESS RELEASES

Violist Marcus Thompson to perform at MIT

Cambridge, MA...Internationally acclaimed violist and MIT Professor Marcus Thompson will present a recital on Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 3 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (48 Massachusetts Ave). Admission is free.

His program will include Alfred Schnittke, Suite in the Old Style for viola d'amore and harpsichord, marimba, vibraphone, campanelli, campane (1977); Michael Colgrass, Variations for Four Tuned Drums and Viola (1957); Elliott Carter, Pastoral (1945); Franz Schubert, Sonata in A minor Arpeggione (1824); and Georges Enescu, Concertpiece (1906).

Thompson will be joined by MIT Senior Lecturer David Deveau, piano; MIT Lecturer Jean Rife, harpsichord; and guest performers Robert Schulz and Joshua Jade on percussion.

It has been many years since Thompson has performed a recital at MIT. A frequent chamber music collaborator and founding member of the Boston Chamber Music Society and of the ensemble SONOS, he has assembled for this occasion a diverse recital program that features: his longtime MIT Chamber Music Society colleagues Jean Rife, and David Deveau; his favorite instrument (the viola d'amore): a popular favorite work from the classical repertoire (the Schubert Arpeggione Sonata); and other favorite works for viola that he hasn't recently performed.

The recital marks the 40th anniversary of his debut recital tour of concerts in Buffalo, Boston, and New York City as part of the Young Concert Artists Series in April 1968.

Marcus Thompson is a distinguished performer both on viola and viola d'amore. A multi-faceted artist, he is equally esteemed as recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator. He is on the viola faculty of the New England Conservatory and at MIT where he is the Robert R. Taylor Professor of Music.