Music Professor Marcus Thompson, an internationally acclaimed violinist, will be the featured soloist for the 109th annual Tech Night at Pops concert to be held this year on Thursday, June 8, in Boston's Symphony Hall. Pops leader Keith Lockhart will conduct the 8 p.m. performance, which is sold out.
Thompson has appeared throughout the Americas, Europe and the Far East as soloist, recitalist and in chamber music series. A Bronx native, Thompson earned his doctorate degree at the Juilliard School. At MIT, he heads programs in chamber music and performance studies. He is also a member of the viola faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music and a violist in the Boston Chamber Music Society.
Thompson last appeared with the Boston Pops in 1973 for Mount Holyoke Night at Pops just before he joined the MIT faculty. He is the Robert R. Taylor Professor of Music here.
The Tech Night program will include works by John Williams, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and movie themes from "Gone With the Wind," "Out of Africa," "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Days of Wine and Roses," "The Godfather," "The Little Mermaid" and "Star Wars."
The concert will conclude with the traditional sing-along version of MIT's alma mater, "In Praise of MIT."
Prior to the Pops concert, current members and alums of MIT's all-male a cappella ensemble, the Logarhythms, will serenade graduates and alumni concertgoers in the lobbies of Symphony Hall.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 7, 2006 (download PDF).