Saturday, March 7, 3:00 pm, Sweeney Hall, Smith College
“Camille Thomas . . . has all the requisite technique and produces a sound I can only liken to drinking hot chocolate: delicious, warming, full of flavour.” — Gramophone
Concert Program:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), arranged by Charles Gounod (1818-1893) Ave Maria
Julien Brocal (b. 1987) & Camille Thomas (b. 1988) Reflection No. 1 (Paix – Shanti)
Johann Sebastian Bach Viola da Gamba Sonata No. 3, BWV 1029
Erik Satie (1866-1925) Gymnopédie No. 3 in A minor
Brocal/Thomas/Radiohead Reflection No. 4
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) The Swan
Erik Satie Gymnopédie No. 1
Julien Brocal Reflection No. 2
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Cello Sonata in A minor, Op. 36
Born in 1988, Camille Thomas is a Franco-Belgian cellist who has won multiple awards and performed with renowned European ensembles. She began playing cello at the age of four and made such rapid progress that she was soon taking lessons with Marcel Bardon. She moved to Berlin in 2006 to study with Stephan Forck and Frans Helmerson at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik and continued her training in the form of postgraduate lessons with Wolfgang-Emanuel Schmidt at the Franz Liszt Hochschule für Musik in Weimar. Camille Thomas plays the famous ‘Feuermann’ Stradivarius 1730, on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
Pianist and composer Julien Brocal is a regular chamber music partner of cellist Camille Thomas. Julien gives recitals worldwide and works to promote music and the arts in unusual places, organizing workshops to introduce people to classical music, and educational projects for children in difficulty. Named BBC Music Magazine’s 2018 Revelation of the Year, Julien began learning the piano at the age of 5 and first performed at the Salle Cortot (Paris) at the age of 7. Erik Berchot trained him at the Conservatoire National de Région de Marseille and Rena Shereshevskaya at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.
(Program subject to change.)