Master vocalist Brianna Thomas continues Catskill Jazz Factory's Italy debut with this early evening concert featuring the songs of Mahalia Jackson and Nina Simone in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 50th anniversary year of his assassination at the Santa Trinita in Florence.

The New Generation Festival 2018 is a festival by new generation artists to inspire new generation audiences. This year's festival takes its inspiration from the first ever Corsini festival of 1680. Over 300 years later, the Palazzo Corsini and Gardens welcome you to this year’s Renaissance Masque featuring opera, theatre and music to rival the greatest carnivals of the Renaissance. 

Singing at this year’s Next Generation Festival with the support of the Catskill Jazz Factory, jazz vocalist and composer Brianna Thomas has performed at the Montreux, North Sea, and Umbria Jazz Festivals and in venues ranging from the Bahamas to Switzerland.

Brianna was a resident in both the 2001 and 2002 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Programs – an international artist-in-residence program that assembles a select group of jazz musicians to perform their original compositions at the Kennedy Center. At Jazz Ahead, she worked with a host of premier jazz educators and performers including renowned vocalist Carmen Lundy, Winard Harper and Nathan Davis.

Brianna’s extensive list of stateside performances includes appearances with Fred Anderson, Von Freeman, Houston Person and the Barber Brothers. She has performed across the country from New Orleans to Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center. In 2001, Thomas was awarded High School Jazz Vocalist of the Year by DownBeat magazine, and notably, Thomas is the youngest person ever to be inducted into Peoria’s African-American Hall of Fame at the age of thirteen in 1996. She has also received a certificate of excellence from the state of Illinois in recognition of her musical accomplishments.
www.briannathomas.com