BIOGRAPHY
Resident pianist for the South Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sam has performed extensively around Melbourne and internationally. Alongside performing as a soloist and chamber musician, he is also a composer and passionate teacher.
[on his Aromatic Fantasy for String Quartet (2019)]
"...Melodic and stunningly evocative." - FeverPitch Magazine (November, 2019).
Initially studying Mechanical Engineering for three years at the University of Melbourne in 2014, his underlying passion was always the piano since he began learning the instrument at the age of 6. He was resident pianist for the South Melbourne Symphony Orchestra between 2015-2020 and has an extensive history of performing and teaching around Melbourne. Sam’s first public recital was in 2009 with cellist Joanna Tidy, at the Warburton Arts Centre. Since then he has performed in and around Victoria as a soloist, orchestral pianist and chamber musician and also travelled more recently to Italy in February of 2023 where he studied composition under Professor Emilio Capalbo and Dr. Andrew Rindfleisch.
His past piano teachers include Caroline Almonte, Stephen McIntyre, Janis Cook, Timothy Young and Dr. Baruch Meir. He has performed in masterclasses with pianists such as Geoffry Saba, Dr. Richard Shuster, Professor Ian Holtham, Igor Machlak, Stephen McIntyre, Glen Riddle, to name a few. As a composer he has been commissioned by organisations such as The City of Melbourne for Scenes of nature (2021), The Royal Society of Victoria, where in 2019 he premiered his solo piano work 'It's getting dark now' at Parliament House Victoria for National Science Week. Other works include his climate change inspired piece 'A wayward Zephyr' (2017) that was commissioned by The Carlton Connect Initiative for the exhibition 'Naturophilia' with artist Peter Sharp. His Aromatic Fantasy for String Quartet (2019) was also premiered by the Invictus Quartet and was said to be “...melodic and stunningly evocative” - FeverPitch Magazine (November, 2019). Most recently in July of 2023 he performed Scenes of nature at the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Acqui Terme, Piedmont, Italy and at the Conservatorio di Cagliari, Sardegna alongside Ensemble Scisma.
As a passionate teacher he has been teaching for over 11 and has held positions at schools such as St. Margaret's Berwick Grammar, Thomas Carr College, Kensington Primary and Melbourne Piano School.
He possesses his AMusA, DMus (MCM) and BMus (MCM) of Piano Performance from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music where he studied under the tutelage of renowned Australian pianist, Caroline Almonte between 2014 - 2019.