This concert is free with a suggested donation of $15.
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Featuring Thursday Musical Members Carolyn Diamond, organ and Salam Murtada, piano.
Click the photo on the left for artist and program information.
For everyone’s safety, Thursday Musical strongly recommends all audience members to wear a non-cloth mask such as a N95, KN95, KF94, or surgical mask inside of the recital hall.
Salam Murtada is a native of Amman, Jordan. He was a semi-finalist in the Fourth Van Cliburn International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in 2004, a semi-finalist in the Washington International Piano Artist Competition in 2006, a winner in the Masters Concerto and Aria Competition (MCAC) in 2019 and a prize winner in the Greensboro Music Academy National Piano Competition in 2000. He has been featured on the WDAV 89.9 FM (Charlotte, NC), several newspapers in North Carolina, the Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Tribune, the London Times, HDTV and BBC Radio. His original compositions have been premiered in the US, Australia, Ukraine, Estonia and Jordan. His instructors include John Ruggero in Raleigh NC, Christine Kefferstan of West Virginia University at Morgantown, Lita Guerra of University of Texas at Austin, and Samia Abu-Khader Ghannoum in Amman, Jordan. He has also coached with Walter Hautzig and Vanessa Cornett-Murtada.
Salam is a civil and environmental engineer currently working for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Active as both pianist and pipe organist, Carolyn Diamond performs regularly on concert series and in salon settings. As a recitalist, she has been praised for her buoyant style and interpretive vigor, and has the reputation of delivering passionate and colorful performances. Selections from her CD of piano music, SCANDINAVIAN SUITE, have been played on Minnesota Public Radio. Diamond has been a frequent performer at the Van Cliburn Piano Institute in Texas where she was a winner of their Piano Concerto Competition, performing with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
She is active as a member of the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (on the Executive Board), Friday Club, and is an Artist Performer and Executive Board Member of Thursday Musical. And while living in NYC, worked with the American Symphony Orchestra, and was a performer with the National Arts Club.
Having been a church musician since high school, Carolyn Diamond has served congregations as Director of Music/Organist in the Twin Cities as well as in the NY/CT area.
Additionally, she has formed a salon series called MUSE….Music Uniting Spirits Everywhere... intended to promote music of multi styles and genres to spread good will and human connection.
A Valedictorian from Robbinsdale High School, she received her B.A. degree (with highest distinction) from the University of Minnesota where she studied piano with Bernard Weiser and organ with Heinrich Fleischer. Postgraduate work includes keyboard studies with Howard Don Small, Dean Billmeyer at the University of Minnesota, Kent Tritle of the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, and Igor Resnianski of Westchester University.
