Marilyn Thompson, soprano, has been involved in the research and performance of vocal music by African American composers for nearly 30 years.  Her work in this genre has carried her across the United States, to the Caribbean and to Europe. She has facilitated lectures and recitals of this repertoire at numerous colleges and universities, and for national conferences of professional music organizations.  Ms. Thompson has been featured twice on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on North Carolina Public Television in the Celebration series. In February 2004, with collaborator, Roland Carter, she received the best presentation prize from the Southern Humanities Council for the paper/performance, “Protest Rhetoric in Selected African American Art Songs.”  Ms. Thompson has conducted long- and short-term residencies in diverse settings. She holds memberships in the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the National Association of Negro Musicians, for which she oversees Public Relations and edits Reverberations, its quarterly newsletter. Equally at home as a singer of oratorio and standard concert/recital repertoire, Ms. Thompson has performed as soloist with the Charlotte Symphony and Pops, Orchestra Virginia Beach, the Raleigh Oratorio Society, the Chattanooga Symphony, and the Brooklyn Philharmonia Chorus.  She has served on the Voice faculties of Morgan State University and Hampton University. A native of La Grange, North Carolina, the soprano is a candidate for the Ed.D. in the College Teaching of Music at Teachers College, Columbia University.  Other degrees were earned at The Catholic University of America and Hampton University. She resides in Brooklyn, New York.