Keundra Jones, a fourth grader at Burton Pack Elementary School and a member of USC’s Strings Project, meets Samuel Thompson following the second USC Cares concert.

New fans huddled in the corridor outside USC’s School of Music rehearsal hall last week to meet the now–famous violinist who calmed the crowd Katrina’s chaos had collected. Charleston native Samuel Thompson had just taken his last bow following a benefit concert.

His performance that night with Joseph Rackers, piano, and Neil Casey, viola, had been intimate by comparison. The world first saw Thompson through the lens of a TV camera in the middle of New Orleans’ Superdome playing a soulful Bach Sonata No. 1. His music contrasted gently with the dissonance of the turbulent throng crowded into the stadium.

The lone musician had played first for an amputee in a wheelchair, then requests from the captive audience en-veloped him. He honored pleas to play again and again, and the media covering the microcosm under the dome picked up on the incongruous pairing of classical music and chaotic mob.

Since leaving the Superdome where he, too, was a victim of Katrina’s wrath, Thompson has played concerts across the country, from New Orleans to Buffalo, NY. As he made his way closer to Charleston, he stopped to play in Columbia where he had been a music student as an undergraduate. He completed his BA degree at Oklahoma State University, then went on to Rice University for graduate studies. Before Katrina made landfall, he had been playing his music as a professional in the Big Easy.

Following his benefit concert here, Thompson re–connected with a former teacher, was interviewed for a SCETV segment, made new friends, and inspired young students. When he left Columbia, Thompson anticipated a reunion with family and friends in Charleston.