"Your beautiful violin tones are still running through my head....Thank you for sharing so willingly. I know the Pioneers who built the Tabernacle are smiling."
Lucille Hanson - Concert and Lecture Series at the (Logan) Tabernacle
“...your beautiful violin playing, as well as your remarkable creative spirit.”
Carolyn Morris – Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS
Sarah Duck Loudermilk – Executive Director, Da Camera of
Mary Lou Aleskie
Executive Director,
Lindsay Koob – Director, Millennium Music Spotlight Series
Contributing Editor, American Record Guide
“I respect the violin playing and musical [thought] that you brought
to the EDU (Quartet). And I thank you for your contributions to the project."
Kim Diehnelt - Vice-President,
“I was delighted with the EDU Quartet’s performance!”
Thomas Zoells – President, PianoForte Chicago/Fazioli Piano Studio
"Everyone in the UPROOTED crew was profoundly impacted by your love and spirit."
Nick Slie - Artistic Director, Mondo Bizarro Productions
Member, Alternate Roots' UPROOTED: The Katrina Project
"The image of the young man playing to his stranded audience on that late summer day captivated the country, a reminder that even in times of extreme duress, beauty can and will emerge."
Tiffany Maleshevski - Strings Magazine
"Attention all you prima donnas in New York, Boston, Los Angeles,
Chicago, Philadelphia! Lower your noses, loosen those stiff upper lips,
and once things settle down a bit find SAMUEL THOMPSON...and
GIVE THIS KID THE CHANCE HE HAS EARNED!"
"…the photograph of Thompson with his violin in the New Orleans Arena, surrounded by evacuees and soldiers as he plays Bach's Sonata No. 1 in G Minor for an amputee in a wheelchair, is one of the lasting images from round-the-clock media coverage of Katrina an Rita....If Nero's fiddling while Rome burned laid bare the emperor's selfishness and lack of compassion for his countrymen, Thompson's violin playing while New Orleans was underwater exemplifies the opposite."
James Horrigan -
"Bach's lament became a gift, an emotional release for a community that could no longer call anything their own....this was a symbol of the resilience of
Dawn Xiana Moon - Relevant Magazine
"Thompson is the man who stood calmly in the frenzied New Orleans Arena next to the Louisiana Superdome, playing Bach for his fellow evacuees. In the midst of the chaos and clamor, uncertain about his own future and that of his friends, Thompson tucked his violin beneath his chin and brought forth the wistful strains of Bach's Adagio from the Sonata No. 1 in G Minor and the Grave and Andante from the Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, the notes, cascading tenderly into the humid air."
Jennifer Roolf-Laster - San Antonio Express-News
"...Samuel Thompson, who played with great skill and sensitivity, Bach's Sonata No. 1 in G Minor."
Patrick Shannon III - Ambush Magazine
CONDUCTORS AND FELLOW ARTISTS
“Wonderful Elgar. Beautifully played.”
Zhang Zhang
Artistic Director, Zhang and Friends Concert Series for Charity
Artistic Director,
Assistant Concertmaster, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra
Everyone was quite pleased as to how it all unfolded.”
Vincent Skowronski – concert violinist and recording artist
“Our Elgar project was wonderful, and I learned a lot from you during this process.”
Racheli Galay-Atman, cello
"I sincerely look forward to working with Samuel again and give him the highest of recommendations."
Sun-Young Lee - Associate Director and Artistic Advisor,
Oshawa-Durham Symphony Orchestra (
Deputy Musical Director,
Marilyn Wallin, violinmaker
Barbara Day Turner - Music Director,
Music Director,
Karen Keltner - Resident Conductor,
Vjekoslav Sutej - Principal Conductor,
Music Director Emeritus,
Raphael Fliegel - Former Concertmaster,
“You have a lot going for you, one of those things being your musical intelligence.”
Anne Schnoebelen, Ph. D - Mullen Professor Emerita of Musicology
Shepherd
Kenneth Goldsmith – Professor of Violin,
AUDIENCES
I'm so glad you're still with us in the world, and that you are so deep into your calling of music and life.
Jacobi Caldwell - San Antonio, TX
“…a true inspiration."
Teres Mertes Rose, originally posted at www.violinist.com
Cheryl Jones
“Thank you for your valuable contributions to violinist.com”
Laurie Niles – Founder and editor, www.violinist.com
Henry Lowendorf - Greater
“I enjoy your holistic view on the art. It is refreshing to read your views, and the questions you pose will resonate in my own head for a while.”
Elizabeth Miller, originally posted at www.polyphonic.org
Rebecca Meriwether
Associate Professor, Department of Family and Preventitive Medicine
Florence Saltarelli - Music Director, Saltarelli String Orchestra
Sara-Lise Rochon
"...deeply touched by your focus."
Dr. Laurence Hawkins