Donna Thompson

MUSICIANSHIP TEACHING ARTIST

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Donna Thompson, a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, is a widely acclaimed percussionist who has been playing and performing for over thirteen years. She has performed with the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, World Youth Symphony Orchestra, and was a featured solo performer with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Robert Spano as well as the Atlanta Wind Symphony. She has worked with the principal percussionists of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. At age fifteen, she attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts where she was a Concerto Competition winner and a soloist with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Donna has played with the Gateways Music Festival in Rochester New York, as well as Opera Noire of New York in Manhattan. She recently studied timpani with the principal timpanist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at the Manhattan School of Music, where she attended for two years before attending Spelman College in Atlanta. She currently is studying jazz vibes and playing with the Spelman College Jazz Ensemble, which she has toured with for the past three years.

Donna Thompson currently resides in Atlanta, GA where she does freelance performances. Her most recent performances have included concerts at Atlanta’s premier jazz club Churchill Grounds, the renowned Apache Cafe and solo performances for the National Black Arts Festival in Centennial Olympic Park.

As a teacher, Donna has taught music in New York Public Schools as well as Atlanta Public Schools and currently teaches for the Atlanta Music Project. She comes from a musical family, both of her parents being music educators and performing musicians.