by Greg Boyce
TRINIDAD — Trinidad State will welcome violinist Omari Abdul-Alim at a Black History Month event in Trinidad on February 22.
Omari began studying violin under the instruction of Katie Woorly in Rochester, New York in 2000. After moving back to his home town of Seattle, Washington six years later, he began playing orchestral and chamber music, participating in school music programs as well as Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras. Throughout high school, while he remained a competitive violinist and ultimately decided to pursue an undergraduate degree in music, Omari plunged into other genres as well, producing his first hip hop project. Shortly after, he was admitted into the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory to study violin with Professor Joe Genualdi.
Since moving to Kansas City, Omari has been steadily developing what he feels are his strongest and most enjoyable means of artistry: performing, teaching, and composing. Omari has gradually created more opportunities to combine his formal violin training with the urban arts culture he heavily identifies with. He currently teaches with the Base Academy of Music, is an active member of the Mezzo String alt-jazz ensemble, and hopes to use his involvement to pursue even greater collaborative projects in the near future.
“Collaboration showed me that sharing the arts in a genuine manner creates a human bond of experience that supersedes superficial disagreements. Overcoming boundaries of opinion, social class, sexual orientation, race, religion etc. through arts collaboration is what truly inspires me.” Having completed his bachelors of music in violin performance in May, 2017, Omari is auditioning for admission into various graduate programs across the country to continue his music studies.
He will talk about his experiences with Trinidad State students and staff on February 22, 2018 at 11:30 am at the Sullivan Center Conference Room at the Trinidad Campus. That evening at 7:30 p.m. he will again speak and perform in the Sullivan Center Pioneer Room. The evening session is open to the public.
