Uncrowned Community Builders

Mrs. Michelle J. Thomas is head of the music department at The Park School of Buffalo and Organist at Faith Baptist Church.

Michelle began studying piano in 1955 and organ in 1959. She won First Place - Piano Competition, National Eastern Star Conferences in 1961, 1962; and First Place - Piano Competition, James Cleveland Gospel Music Workshop of America in 1979. She was Assistant Director and accompanist for the St. Philip's Boys and Young Men's Choir under the direction of Donald L. Hilliard (former Supervisor of Music, Buffalo Public Schools). The Boys choir performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas from 1980 through 1985. Later the choir was renamed Buffalo Arts and Music Youth Chorale (and girls were added), under the direction of Maestro Julius Rudel. This group was selected to represent the United States at the Tenth International Youth and Music Festival held in Vienna, Austria in July 1981. They won awards at the National Association of Negro Musicians, Detroit Michigan, in July 1985 and performed at the MENC Conference of National Educators Association (NEA) Miami, Florida in 1985.

Michelle was a Choir Director and pianist at the University at Buffalo during the most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu's visit to Buffalo in January 1989, as well as for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Concert. Some of the music featured on that concert Michelle had performed in 1973 at Chautauqua Lake. Twenty years later she was accompanist for the Buffalo State College Singers under the direction of Dr. Raymond Tymas-Jones.

Michelle was the accompanist for the 1991 Western New York World University Games Choir in Sheffield, England. Her performances as a part of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Black History Concerts have been especially gratifying, and her duet with Doc Severinsen at the Pops Series Finale in 1996 particularly unforgettable.

In May of 1997 she received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from the House of Representatives and an Achievement Award from the City of Buffalo for a music school she started at the Faith Baptist Church. More recently (January 1997-98), she was guest organist for the New York State Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Memorial Observance at the State Capitol in Albany, New York. Michelle, an accomplished composer, was selected in April 1999 to assist and accompany the group New Beginnings in Dortmond, Germany during the Buffalo/Dortmond Sister City Cultural Exchange. Michelle accompanied two groups of performers for the visit of President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and their families in January1999 in Buffalo.

The Common Council, City of Buffalo, declared Sunday, August 22, 1999, "Michelle Thomas Day" in the City of Buffalo in honor of her 40th year of music service.