Features soloists, two pianos, full chorus, percussion
The Community Chorus will be joined by soloists Jim and Tina Thompson Broussard, the percussion ensemble of North Greenville University and pianists Pam McNeil and Beth Child in the group’s spring concert Sunday, May 6 at 3 p.m. at Polk County High School.
Led by music director Mark Schweizer, the ensemble will present portions of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” as well as other musical selections.
James Broussard

James Broussard was born in Port Arthur, Texas and grew up in Nederland, Texas. At an early age he found a talent for the piano and had his first organist position at age 11. In 1982, he began his studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and went on to win several competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of 1984.
The International Opera Center of Zürich, Switzerland brought Broussard to Europe, where he trained and sang for the next nine years. High points in his career include singing under conductors Placido Domingo, James Levine and voice study with Nicolai Gedda.
Broussard has served on the voice faculties of North Greenville University and Charleston Southern University. He has served also as minister of music at The International Baptist Church of Zürich, Switzerland; St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Detmold, Germany; and Pendleton Street Baptist and Overbrook Baptist, both in Greenville, S.C. Currently he is director of music at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville.
He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston and Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C. and also has a large private voice studio in Greenville. He maintains a busy concert schedule and is a sought-after pianist and conductor. He and Tina have a 17-year-old son, Brandon.

Tina Thompson-Broussard
A native of Richardson, Texas, Tina Thompson-Broussard holds vocal performance degrees from Baylor University and Florida State University (FSU). After completing her master’s degree at FSU, she was awarded a Rotary International Scholarship to study at the International Opera Studio in Zurich, Switzerland.
After marrying tenor Jim Broussard and moving to Detmold, Germany, she performed in Germany and Italy. She sang the soprano solos in Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” in Kiev, Ukraine shortly before the Berlin Wall was removed and reunification took place. Other performances include numerous oratorios, “The Barber of Seville,” “The Ballad of Baby Doe,” “La Bohéme,” “The Merry Widow,” “Die Entfuerung aus dem Serail,” “The Magic Flute,” “La Clemenza di Tito,” “The Secret Marriage,” “Carmen” and various operettas and musicals.
Thompson-Broussard sang the role of Carlotta in Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” in Hamburg, Germany, performing more than 300 shows in German translation. She moved back to Zurich in 1992 to sing with the Zurich Opera.
An offer to teach voice at Furman University brought the family to the USA in 1996. She taught at Furman until 2003, when she joined the music staff of Christ Church Episcopal Church and started a large private voice studio in Greenville, S.C. From 2003-2008, she also served as adjunct professor of voice at Clemson University and Converse College.
Locally, Thompson-Broussard has sung with the Greenville Symphony and Chorale, the Hendersonville Symphony, the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium, the Hilton Head Symphony, the Newberry Opera, Greenville Little Theatre, South Carolina Children’s Theatre and the Greenville Opera, which she co-founded. Her most recent roles include Mother Abbess in “The Sound of Music,” the witch in “Into the Woods,” Queen of the Night in “The Magic Flute,” the mother in “Amahl and the Night Visitors” and Marian in “The Music Man.”
– article submitted
by Ellen Harvey Zapf