Shannon Thomas

A Tennessee native, violinist Shannon Thomas has garnered a reputation for exciting, thoughtful performances as a chamber musician, soloist, and in recital throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Recent performing engagements have taken her to the Kennedy Center, Spoleto Festival USA, Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium, Bolivia’s Centro Sinfonico in La Paz, and the Banff Centre where she has collaborated with distinguished artists such as the St. Lawrence String Quartet, David Halen, Richard King, Wendy Chen, Anita Pontremoli, and Midori.

As a chamber musician, Thomas has performed at the Innsbrook Summer Music Festival, Garth Newel Music Center, Sarasota Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, ENCORE School for Strings, Aspen Music Festival, the International Clarinet Association National Conference (Belgium), Northwestern University, and Brancaleoni International Music Festival (Italy). She is violinist of the Benzaiten Trio and performs regularly with the Bryant Park Chamber Players in New York City, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and IRIS Orchestra under the direction of Michael Stern. Thomas has recorded for Blue Griffin Records, most recently releasing a CD celebrating the music of Lera Auerbach, Ellen Zwilich, and Jennifer Higdon.

Interested in sharing her enthusiasm for the arts through teaching, Thomas is in demand as a pedagogue. She currently serves as Associate Professor of Violin at Florida State University and gives masterclasses throughout the United States and abroad. She teaches at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute. Previously on the faculties of University of Southern Mississippi, the Cleveland Institute of Music Preparatory Division, and Interlochen Arts Camp, her students have been prizewinners and finalists at national competitions, including MTNA and the Sphinx Competition. She has also taught at the Kinhaven Music School, Stony Brook University Chamber Music Camp, and the Innsbrook Institute Summer Music Academy and Festival, where she served as Education Director. Shannon has presented educational sessions and masterclasses at the National ASTA conference, Florida Music Educators Association annual conference, and the Luby Violin Symposium. In addition, she has served as an adjudicator and clinician for the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival Association in addition to MTNA and regional All-State orchestral auditions. She is co-artistic director of MusicBridges Tallahassee, a non-profit that provides opportunities for youth to succeed through the power of music and diversity.

Thomas earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she was Paul Kantor’s teaching assistant. She received the Master of Music degree from Yale University and the Bachelor of Music degree from Vanderbilt University, and also pursued graduate work at Arizona State University, where she was the first student to be accepted into the Artist Diploma program. She studied chamber music with Peter Salaff, Merry Peckham, George Sopkin, Christopher von Baeyer, Laurie Smukler and members of the Juilliard, Blair, Tokyo, and Cavani String Quartets. Her principal teachers have included Paul Kantor, Cornelia Heard, Jonathan Swartz, Robert Lipsett, and Ani Kavafian.

For more information, visit shannonthomasviolin.com and follow her on Instagram: @shannonthomasviolin.