Sarah Ioannides, conductor
Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin
Bernstein: Candide Overture
Wynton Marsalis: Violin Concerto
Copland: Symphony No. 3

Meet the Soloist
Winner of a Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize and featured in the Smithsonian Museum for African-American History, Kelly Hall-Tompkins is a violin soloist entrepreneur who has been acclaimed by The New York Times as “the versatile violinist who makes the music come alive,” and as “New Yorker of the Year.” In 2016 she received an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music, her alma mater, and is also one of three 2017 recipients of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, which was presented at the U.S. Supreme Court by Justice Sotomayor.

For thirteen months and more than 400 performances on Broadway, Ms. Hall-Tompkins was the “Fiddler”/violin soloist for the Grammy/Tony-nominated Bartlett Sher production of Fiddler on the Roof.” With numerous solos written especially for her, she was inspired to commission and develop The Fiddler Expanding Tradition, the first ever Fiddler solo disc of all new arrangements. The full recording was released on Broadway Records in 2018 and acclaimed as “vital, life-enhancing, glorious…mesmerizing…magnificent” in multiple reviews.

Ms. Hall-Tompkins is the founder of Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul, the pioneering project that brings classical music and musicians into homeless shelters to share the inspirational, therapeutic and uplifting power of music with those experiencing homelessness. Founded in New York City, Music Kitchen has presented over 100 concerts to more than 30,000 homeless shelter clients across the United States, as well as in Paris, France.

A native of Greenville, SC, Ms. Hall-Tompkins began her violin studies at age nine. She lives in New York City with her husband, Joe.