MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST)

By Amelia Mason, 5 February 2018

April 4, 1968 was a momentous day for Marcus Thompson. That was the day that the young violist made his debut in a recital at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

It also turned out to be the day that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Thompson learned of King’s death not long before walking onstage. Needless to say, the news “was a very heavy burden to carry.” But it also marked the start of an illustrious career for the Juilliard-educated musician, who then, as now, was one of only a handful of African-Americans to find success in classical music.

It was with these twin legacies in mind — King’s and his own — that Thompson, now an Institute professor at MIT, designed the program for his upcoming recital at Kresge Auditorium on February 24, 2018. The concert, which is part of the MIT Sounding Series, presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology and Music and Theater Arts, coincides with the 50th anniversary of King’s death as well as the founding of the MIT Black Students’ Union.

“Fifty years later it just seemed like it was appropriate to do something that called attention to [King’s] legacy,” Thompson says. “Especially … since that legacy is being called into question by so many actions and attitudes.”

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MIT Sounding

Marcus Thompson Faculty Recital

viola & viola d’amore
with Bill Cutter, Elena Ruehr and Evan Ziporyn

February 24, 2018 / 8:00pm
MIT Kresge Auditorium, W16, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA