24-year-old Jazz Pianist Isaiah J. Thompson To Hold Master Class And Concert At The Harlem School Of The Arts

On Thursday, March 31st from 5:00 - 6:30 pm in Dorothy Maynor Hall at the Harlem School of the Arts (HSA), the brilliant young pianist, bandleader and composer Isaiah J. Thompson will guide the HSA's young instrumentalist student group, through a masterclass that includes a critique on technique, performance and improvisational skills. The session will conclude with a performance by Mr. Thompson.

This young keyboardist has perfected his style and approach performing with jazz royalty including Ron Carter, John Pizzarelli, Christian McBride, Steve Turre and Buster Williams. A graduate of Juilliard, he began his love affair with music at an early age, attending The Calderone School of Music and later joining Jazz House Kids and NJPAC Jazz for Kids. Now at the tender age of 24 he is garnering global recognition.

Mr. Thompson is a 2018 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award recipient, took second place at the Thelonious Monk Competition, was named a Steinway Artist, worked on the Golden Globe nominated soundtrack for Motherless Brooklyn directed by actor Edward Norton, starring Willem Dafoe, Alec Baldwin and Bobby Cannavale. Isaiah was one of the featured players on The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis 2016 album, Handful of Keys, which charted the evolution of the piano over the 20th century, and included performances by pianists Joey Alexander, Dick Hyman, Myra Melford, and Helen Sung.

In 2020, he released his debut album as a leader titled, Isaiah J. Thompson Plays the Music of Buddy Montgomery.

About Harlem School of the Arts, The Herb Alpert Center

New York City's premier community arts institution, the Harlem School of the Arts, the Herb Alpert Center stands uniquely apart as the sole provider of arts education in four disciplines: music, dance, theatre, and art & design, all within our award-winning 37,000 square foot facility. The institution's reputation for artistic rigor and excellence attracts students of diverse socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds from the five New York City boroughs as well as Westchester County and the tri-state area, which includes Connecticut and New Jersey. HSA's alumni and faculty are counted among the most talented leaders in the arts.

Founded by concert soprano Dorothy Maynor over 50 years ago, HSA has enriched the lives of tens of thousands of young people through world-class training in the arts. HSA offers its students the freedom to find and develop the artist and citizen within themselves in an environment that teaches discipline, stimulates creativity, builds self- confidence, and adds a dimension of beauty to their lives, empowering them to become creative thinkers and innovative leaders of tomorrow.

Harlem School of the Arts (HSA)'s programs and general operations are supported in part by awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and are further made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; and by the Office of the Manhattan Borough President. HSA also receives major support from the Herb Alpert Foundation, Arison Arts Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Edwin Caplin Foundation, the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, Ford Foundation, Goldman Sachs, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, New York Community Trust, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, Pinkerton Foundation, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, and Verizon; as well as from individual donors.

To learn more about the Harlem School of the Arts, please visit www.HSAnyc.org.