Community Corner
Second Saturdays at St Jude - Concert Series
International winner Jordan Thomas has been described as “a
profoundly intelligent musician, capable of being both sensitive and powerful,”
Jordan has spent his whole life performing.
After starting piano lessons at age 5 and harp at age 9, he
was thoroughly committed to music. So he
also joined the Keystone State Boys Choir at age 10 -- and ended up touring all
7 continents with this group as a youth,
being constantly exposed to musical excellence in many styles all around
the globe. By the time he was in high
school he was an award-winning harpist of considerable stature, winning
regional and national gold medals in the NAACP ACT-SO Competitions as well as
awards from the local American Harp Society competitions. He was the chosen soloist for multiple
concerto appearances with orchestras in the Philadelphia area, and won a spot
at the Saratoga Harp Colony for summer study with Elizabeth Hainen. At Saratoga
he participated in masterclasses with Susan McDonald, Judy Loman, and Elizabeth
Hainen
In
2010 Jordan entered the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where he studied for
two years with Jeanne Chalifoux and two with Dr. Ruth K. Inglefield. At Peabody he spent a great deal of time as
principal harpist of the orchestras – the
Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Concert Orchestra, Peabody Opera Orchestra,
Peabody Camerata (specializing in new music), and the Conductor’s
Orchestra. Appearances with regional
orchestras were frequent. During his time at Peabody, he has been a participant
in Masterclasses with Natalia Shamayeva, Sivan Magen, and Dan Yu.