By Rodney Hays

Staff Writer

A Van Alstyne woman is about to take her love of the piano and Native American music to the stage in Washington, D.C.

Lisa Thomas grew up in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky as the daughter of a Baptist music minister. Her father passed on his love of music and performing.

"He also was an opera singer and had the lead in operas with the Shreveport Opera Company," Thomas said. "Watching him perform in an opera is a very vivid childhood memory for me and made a very big impression on me."

Her parents died during her childhood and teenage years, but Thomas' love of music helps them to live on.

Thomas has lived in the Van Alstyne school district for 19 years. Her husband died in 2000, leaving behind her and her two sons, Orion and Heath.

Orion just graduated from VAHS and was the football district MVP as a running back, and Heath will be a seventh-grader in the fall.

Thomas likes to perform piano pieces and teach piano.

"I have been playing the piano all my life, since I was 7 years old. I was very interested in it as a child and loved to perform," she said.

Thomas said she loves to listen to piano music too, but can't relax when listening to it.

"I am always 'at work' when I hear this and am playing it in my mind, or it makes me feel guilty and I have to go back to practice," she said.

But her favorite music to listen to and relax is Native American flute music and classical guitar music.

In summer 2007, Thomas performed in the young artist series at an International Music Festival in Amalfi, Italy. The head of the piano division, Dr. Thomas Mastroianni, suggested Thomas contact the National Museum of the American Indian, part of the Smithsonian, and present the program there as well.

After some persistence on Thomas' part, she will present that program next week.

While she is in D.C., Thomas also will perform at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Both performances will be broadcast live on the Internet.

Thomas' Smithsonian concert will be at noon Friday, July 23. The concert can be heard online at www.ustream.tv on the Smithsonian/NMAI channel.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Millennium Stage concert will be at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 24.

Those who want to listen can visit www.kennedy-center.org/millennium and click on "Watch Live."

"My concert is part of a series at NMAI called '2010 Indian Summer Showcase'," Thomas said.

The music in Washington is piano repertoire that was composed based on Native American tribal melodies, rhythms and motifs, in much the same way that composers use other folk melodies and folklore as a basis for their compositions.

"This was also the topic of my doctoral dissertation and the subject of my article that was just published in the summer 2010 issue of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian magazine, titled 'Composers and Indians: The Search for a National Style Preserved Native Tradition'," Thomas said.

The editor of the magazine has asked Thomas to perform the program in New York City as well.

She also has a limited number of openings for lessons after completing her doctorate. She drives to her students' homes to teach.

"I am also thinking of offering a class in stage presence for pageant performers, and anyone interested in trying out for talent search programs," she said. "Please email me before Aug. 15 if you are interested in this class."

Her email is lisacherylthomas@hotmail.com.

Another dream Thomas has is to start a summer concert in the park series in Van Alstyne.

"The plan is to have three or four concerts at first. One will be an old-fashioned gospel concert, another a patriotic concert in honor of all of our veterans, another will be the most loved classical favorites," she said.

For more information on the concert or piano lessons from Thomas, visit her website at www.lisacherylthomas.com.

"You can order CDs from my website, and you can put your order in for the professional label CDs that are scheduled to be released by Toccata Classics label in 2012, the 50th anniversary of the death of the composer whose works I will be recording," Thomas said.