ACC Music Presents
Omar Thomas in Residency
Tuesday, October 15th, 7:00 pm
Highland Recital Hall
Building 2000
ACC Music Presents
Omar Thomas in Residency
Tuesday, October 15th, 7:00 pm
Highland Recital Hall
Building 2000
This I Dig of You
Hank Mobley
arr. Mike Tomaro
Jazz Ensemble 1
Wolfgang Burst, piano
Aaron Yuhas, tenor sax
I Am
Omar Thomas
Jazz Ensemble 1
Wolfgang Burst, piano
Aaron Yuhas, tenor sax
Not the Same
Danielle Kirklin
New Music Ensemble
I Love Being Here with You
Peggy Lee and Bill Schluger
arr. John Clayton
ACC Jazz Ensemble
Shawnda Birch, vocal
We Will Know Suite
Omar Thomas
I. Hymn
Shawnda Birch, vocalist
Wolfgang Burst, piano
II. In Memoriam
Jazz Ensemble 1
III. Meditation
New Music Ensemble/Jazz Ensemble 1
WE WILL KNOW
-Omar Thomas
With the storm overhead, pain abounds, blood is shed.
Tread our path, forth we go, times of solace we will know.
Know us not yet they judge, build us not painful grudge.
We will rise oe’r our woe, lives fulfilling we will know.
Here we are, path ahead, hallowed ground where we bled.
Claim our lives, smiles aglow, equal treatment we will know.
Heads held high, eyes with pride, hand in hand, forth we stride.
Hearts as one, numbers grow, strength in many we will know.
ACC Jazz Ensemble 1 Personnel
Shawnda Birch, vocal
Ken Hallenberg, John Greer, alto sax
Aaron Yuhas, Nadine Nack, tenor sax
Nick Glenn, bari sax
Ian Vinciguerra, Stu Goldsmith, Jameson Zaballos, tenor trombone
Robert Tung, Odin Lowe, bass trombone
Robert Flores, Dave Boostrom, Kent Stuiber, Will Borland, Nathan Harward, trumpet
Wolgang Burst, piano
Scarlett Snow, Sean Fitzpatrick, guitar
Marcel Bobe-Melendez, Frank Prater, bass
Daniel Dickinson, Parker Bradley, drums
Steven Sodders, director
New Music Ensemble Personnel
Leilani Foreman, flute
Alexander Gonzalez, clarinet
Emmanuel Duarte, trumpet
Jorge Castano, trombone
Danielle Kirklin, guitar
Abdullah Aljuraiban, guitar
Brittany Malm, voice/percussion
Dolan Huwyler, cello
Zeke Bennett, percussion
Ajani Graham, percussion
Keith Allegretti, piano, co-director
James Tabata, bass, co-director
composer // arranger // educator
Described as "elegant, beautiful, sophisticated, intense, and crystal clear in emotional intent," the music of Omar Thomas continues to move listeners everywhere it is performed. Born to Guyanese parents in Brooklyn, New York in 1984, Omar moved to Boston in 2006 to pursue a Master of Music in Jazz Composition at the New England Conservatory of Music after studying Music Education at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He is the protégé of lauded composers and educators Ken Schaphorst and Frank Carlberg, and has studied under multiple Grammy-winning composer and bandleader Maria Schneider.
Hailed by Herbie Hancock as showing "great promise as a new voice in the further development of jazz in the future," educator, arranger, and award-winning composer Omar Thomas has created music extensively in the contemporary jazz ensemble idiom. It was while completing his Master of Music Degree that he was appointed the position of Assistant Professor of Harmony at Berklee College of Music at the surprisingly young age of 23. Following his Berklee tenure, he served on faculty of the Music Theory department at The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Now a Yamaha Master Educator, he is currently an Associate Professor of Composition and Jazz Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. He was awarded the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award in 2008, and invited by the ASCAP Association to perform his music in their highly exclusive JaZzCap Showcase, held in New York City. In 2012, Omar was named the Boston Music Award's "Jazz Artist of the Year." In 2019, he was awarded the National Bandmasters Association/Revelli Award for his wind composition “Come Sunday,” becoming the first Black composer awarded the honor in the contest’s 42-year history.
Now a Yamaha Master Educator, Omar's music has been performed in concert halls the world over. He has been commissioned to create works in both jazz and classical styles. His work has been performed by such diverse groups as the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, the San Francisco and Boston Gay Mens' Choruses, The United States Marine Band, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Showa Wind Symphony, in addition to a number of the country's top collegiate music ensembles. Omar has had a number of celebrated singers perform over his arrangements, including Stephanie Mills, Yolanda Adams, Nona Hendryx, BeBe Winans, Kenny Lattimore, Marsha Ambrosius, Sheila E., Raul Midon, Leela James, Dionne Warwick, and Chaka Khan. His work is featured on Dianne Reeves's Grammy Award-winning album, "Beautiful Life."
Omar's first album, "I AM," debuted at #1 on iTunes Jazz Charts and peaked at #13 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Albums Chart. His second release, " We Will Know: An LGBT Civil Rights Piece in Four Movements," has been hailed by Grammy Award-wining drummer, composer, and producer Terri Lyne Carrington as being a "thought provoking, multi-layered masterpiece" which has "put him in the esteemed category of great artists." "We Will Know" was awarded two OUTMusic Awards, including "Album of the Year." For this work, Omar was named the 2014 Lavender Rhino Award recipient by The History Project, acknowledging his work as an up-and-coming activist in the Boston LGBTQ community. Says Terri Lyne: "Omar Thomas will prove to be one of the more important composer/arrangers of his time."