Artists

Biography:

Marcus Thompson, violist, has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and in chamber music series throughout the Americas, Europe, and the Far East. He has been a soloist with the orchestras of Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, and Saint Louis, the National Symphony, the Boston Pops and the Czech National Symphony in Prague. He performed Keith Jarrett’s Bridge of Light with the Atlanta Symphony, and regional premieres of John Harbison’s Viola Concerto: on the West Coast with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (with the composer conducting), in Chicago with the Chicago Sinfonietta, and in Boston with the NEC Honors Orchestra.

Thompson has received critical acclaim for his performances of the Penderecki Viola Concerto in Boston with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Symphony Orchestra and in London (UK); for the premiere of Elena Ruehr’s Viola Concerto Shadow Light with the New Orchestra of Washington; and for the premiere of Olly Wilson’s Viola Concerto with the Rochester Philharmonic. He has played Hindemith’s Viola d’amore Concerto (Kammermusik No. 6) with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Saratoga and concertos by Vivaldi at the Bravo Festival in Colorado and at Aston Magna in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

He has premiered and performed many recital and chamber works by MIT composers including Peter Child, Keeril Makan, Charles Shadle, and John Harbison, and has recorded Barry Vercoe’s iconic Synapse for Viola and Computer. His recording of the Concerto for Viola, Chamber Orchestra & Percussion commissioned from composer and organist Anthony Newman in 1985 was re-released along with concertos for five other instruments by the composer.

Thompson’s recordings with orchestra also include concertos by Hindemith, Bartók, Serly, and Bloch, along with works by Françaix, Martin, and Jongen. Recent releases include Elena Ruehr’s Shadow Light with the New Orchestra of Washington, and John Harbison’s Viola Concerto with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

Thompson has been a guest of the Audubon, Borromeo, Cleveland, DaPonte, Emerson, Fine Arts, Jupiter, Lydian, Miami, Muir, Orion, Parker, Shanghai, and Vermeer string quartets and a frequent participant at chamber music festivals in Anchorage, Seattle, Sitka, Los Angeles, Montreal, Edmonton, Rockport (Massachusetts and Maine), Rio de Janeiro, Spoleto, Amsterdam, Dubrovnik and Okinawa. He has been a frequent guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and performed with them on a Live from Lincoln Center telecast. He appears on recordings of chamber works released by Music from the Sitka Festival, Het Reizend Muziekgezelschap, and the Boston Chamber Music Society.

Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Thompson holds a doctorate in viola performance from Juilliard. He currently lives in Boston, where he is a member of the viola faculty at New England Conservatory. He has served as violist and Artistic Director of the Boston Chamber Music Society since 2009 and is the founder of the MIT Chamber Music Society and the Institute’s Emerson/Harris private study program. In 1995 he was recognized for his extraordinary teaching at MIT and named a Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow and Robert R. Taylor Professor of Music, followed a decade later by his appointment as Institute Professor.

In 2022, at its 47th International Viola Congress, Thompson was awarded the American Viola Society Career Achievement Award ‘In recognition of distinguished contributions to viola performance and viola pedagogy through his influential recordings and his celebrated tenure at NEC and MIT, hosting the 1985 International Congress, and for advocacy and leadership on behalf of the viola.’