Artistic Director of Chestnut Hill Concerts since 1989, cellist Ronald Thomas sustains a full and active career as a solo performer, prominent chamber musician and administrator, an orchestral Principal Cellist, and a conservatory cello instructor. His solo appearances include performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the St. Louis, Baltimore and Seattle symphony orchestras, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Handel and Haydn Society, among others. Ronald has performed recitals in virtually every state in the United States, in New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston and Los Angeles, as well as numerous concerts in Europe and Asia. In great demand as a chamber musician, Ronald was also co-founder and artistic director of the Boston Chamber Music Society for 26 years, where he appeared regularly and produced a number of highly acclaimed recordings. He has also appeared frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center both at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. Other chamber music festival appearances include the Seattle, Bravo! Colorado, Chamber Music Northwest, Spoleto, Blossom and Norfolk festivals, as well as the festivals of Dubrovnik, Edinburgh and Amsterdam, among others. Ronald was a member of the Players in Residence Committee and the Board of Overseers at Bargemusic in New York. While he was member of the Boston Musica Viva and the Aeolian Chamber Players, he premiered countless new works, including compositions by Gunther Schuller, Michael Colgrass, Ellen Zwillich, Donald Erb, William Bolcom and William Thomas McKinley. He was Principal Cellist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and artistic partner of San Diego’s Mainly Mozart Festival. Before winning the Young Concert Artists auditions at the age of nineteen, Ronald attended the New England Conservatory and the Curtis Institute. His principal teachers were Lorne Munroe, David Soyer and Mary Canberg. He is currently on the faculty of Mannes College at the New School in NYC, and has taught at the Peabody Institute, the Boston Conservatory, MIT, Brown University and Wellesley College. Ronald has performed at the SLLMF since 2018.
[2020]