2015 Westerville South High School graduate Micah Thomas has returned to Central Ohio to perform with the Columbus Jazz Orchestra (CJO) from November 30 – December 4 for the annual “Home for the Holidays” concerts at the Southern Theatre (21 East Main Street). He will be featured with the CJO on a program that also includes guest vocalist Carly Thomas Smith, who appeared in Broadway’s RENT.
Student tickets are available one-hour prior to performance time at the Southern Theatre Box Office and cost $10 (upstairs) and $15 (downstairs) with a valid student I.D. Full price tickets (non-student) run from $20 to $58 and are available at the CAPA Ticket Office (39 East State Street), all Ticketmaster Outlets, by phone at (614) 469-0939 and (800) 745-3000, or online at www.ticketmaster.com.
Thomas is a jazz pianist based in New York City. Born in 1997 and raised in Columbus, he started taking piano lessons when he was two years old. During middle and high school, he was the pianist for the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra for five years. From his sophomore year onwards, Micah began performing regularly with jazz violinist Christian Howes, accompanying him on tours across the country. He also appeared as a guest artist several times with the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, performing alongside such luminaries as Tia Fuller, Lewis Nash and Gerald Clayton; and he has performed with many other distinguished musicians including J.D. Allen, Billy Contreras, Eddie Bayard, George Delancey and Cedric Easton in venues throughout Ohio. Thomas was a member of the 2013 Vail Jazz Workshop and the 2014 Brubeck Jazz Colony, and has been a faculty member at Christian Howes’ annual Creative Strings Workshop since 2015. In 2015, he graduated from Westerville South High School and moved to New York to pursue a degree in Jazz Studies at the prestigious Juilliard School. Though new to New York’s music scene, he has already established himself as an up-and-comer performing with world-class musicians in some of the Big Apple’s most respected venues including Smalls Jazz Club, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, and Jazz at Kitano. He also recently led his own trio in a performance at the American Irish Historical Society.
The Jazz Arts Group of Columbus (JAG) is America’s premier, not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to producing, performing and promoting jazz. Learn more at www.jazzartsgroup.org.