Vanessa Thomas. Photo by JIM BARCUS.
Acclaimed vocalist Vanessa Thomas, known for her seamless span of five octaves, will perform at McPherson College as part of the Fern Lingenfelter Artists Series on November 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Mingenback Theatre. Admission is free.
For over a decade, Thomas toured nationally with Grammy-award winning trumpet-virtuoso Doc Severinsen. She is uniquely versatile with command across several musical genres, including classical, jazz, blues, gospel, and musical theater. Recent performances include Robert Ray’s “Gospel Mass” as the soprano, alto, and tenor soloist at Carnegie Hall and headliner for Lyric Opera and the Lied Center of Kansas in a series of outdoor concerts.
She has performed at the Hollywood Bowl and the Arizona Musicfest; with the Cincinnati Pops, the Florida Orchestra, and part of the Kansas City Symphony’s Christmasfest; and as a soloist with symphony orchestras in Minnesota, Detroit, Dayton, West Virginia, and Utah. Thomas appeared in the PBS American Masters documentary “Never Too Late.” Currently she is producing an album for distribution.
While at McPherson College, Thomas will also be teaching a masterclass on November 7.
Admission to the Lingenfelter concert is free thanks to a generous commitment to McPherson College honoring Fern Lingenfelter. Her son, Steve Clark, chairman of Clark Investment Group of Wichita, established the fund that supports two annual music performance events with special emphasis on piano. Lingenfelter, an alumna of McPherson College, taught piano in McPherson for many years to both college students on campus and younger students at her studio downtown.