Shannon Thomson

Biography

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Shannon spent her childhood in Nebraska in an extended family where music, art and literature were highly prized. Singing, playing piano, reading and writing were central to her early formation. She moved to Montreal, Quebec with her immediate family while a teenager where she discovered the flute and started formal lessons at 17. She studied privately with Carolyn Christie (MSO) at Vanier College and Concordia University where she graduated in Jazz Studies receiving the Pauline Donalda Scholarship for highest academic achievement in music.  After completing her teaching diploma in music at McGill University, Shannon was a music specialist in several schools before completing her Masters degree in Music at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in Jazz Composition and Arranging. She studied privately with Yusef Lateef, Frederick Tillis and Jeffrey Holmes. Upon graduation, Shannon taught music at Centennial Academy in Montreal with Denis Christianson. She has taught part-time at Concordia University since 1998, teaching classes in Jazz Composition, Ear Training, Harmony, Arranging and private study in flute. Shannon has an extensive repertoire of original compositions for a variety of ensembles including her own quintet with strings, big band, jazz choir, guitar ensemble and brass quintet.