News

The Lee University School of Music will present harpsichordist Dr. Phillip Thomas in recital on Wednesday, March 26, at 8 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall, located in the Humanities Center.

The performance will include two sonatas for solo harpsichord by Domenico Scarlatti, “Tornami a Vagheggiar” from Handel’s opera Alcina, and a sonata for bassoon and continuo by G. P. Telemann, among others.

Lee faculty Chery Brendel, soprano; Eric Anderson, bassoon; and Steve Benne, double bass, will be highlighted on the program. Violinists Ha-Eun Song and Zachary Carpenter, violist Guanliang Zong, and cellist Kristiana McCombs—all principal players in Lee’s Symphony Orchestra—will also join Thomas on the recital.

The program will also feature students Mattie Taylor and Tyler Steele, who will dance to a suite by Johannes Mattheson.

Thomas, professor and chair of the musicianship studies department, joined the Lee faculty in 1977. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in music history and literature, as well as some studio teaching. He also serves as the executive director for Lee’s annual Piano Festival & Competition.

Thomas established Lee’s Chamber Orchestra in 1996, after serving as founding conductor of a community string orchestra in Cleveland for several years. He has served as adjudicator for a variety of competitions on the local, regional, and international levels.

Former keyboardist for the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, he performed Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 twice with that ensemble. He is a member of the American Musicological Society, the College Music Society, and Music Teachers National Association. Thomas is listed in the Who’s Who Among American Teachers.

Thomas earned his doctoral degree in music history from the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati and his master’s degree in piano from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied piano with George Walker and Julio Esteban. He graduated summa cum laude from Lee College. His harpsichord instructors include Eiji Hashimoto and Arthur Haas.

The recital is free of charge and open to the public.

For more information, please call the School of Music at (423) 614-8240.