I always get a kick out of seeing people carrying musical instruments in public places. So I was delighted when a woman with a violin case sat down next to me at the airport recently. We began chatting, and it turned out that she is a world renowned soloist! Violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins is a Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize winner and was featured in the Smithsonian Museum for African-American History. Kelly Hall-Tompkins performs internationally as a violin soloist, and was also Fiddler”/Violin Soloist of the Grammy/Tony-nominated Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. She is also passionate about social justice, so she founded Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul, which brings top classical artists to perform in homeless shelters across the United States and in Paris. What a pleasure to feature Kelly Hall-Tompkins as today’s Beautiful Music offering. She is such a terrific and versatile musician that it was hard to choose just one performance. So here are a few personal favorites: her solo violin arrangement of IF I WERE A RICH MAN from Fiddler on the Roof; The Violin Concerto op.5 #1 by Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint Georges with the Western Piedmont Symphony from a 2021 concert, and her arrangement of PURE IMAGINATION from the film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, You can also use the link below to learn more about this outstanding musician.
Kelly Hall-Tompkins