Biography
Resonance and harmonic colour play a vital role in Samantha’s music. This preoccupation yields pieces with an intensely colourful and often meditative quality. Other art-forms are a constant source of inspiration which have prompted collaborations with writers, directors, choreographers and performers.
Samantha (b.1984) has worked with numerous ensembles including the Philharmonia Orchestra, BCMG, Riot Ensemble, The BBC Singers, LOD Muziektheater (Ghent), Silbersee Vocal Ensemble (Amsterdam), The Crossing (USA) and The London Sinfonietta. Her music has been performed at festivals here and abroad such as Aldeburgh Music, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Sounds New, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, York Late Music and The Oxford Lieder Festival.
In 2013, she was awarded an RPS Composition Prize and was commissioned to write a new work for the Philharmonia Orchestra as part of the Music of Today series. Samantha’s music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and released on labels NMC and Coviello Classics. In 2018 she was commissioned to write a new work, Formations, celebrating the 50th birthday of the London Sinfonietta, premiered at the Royal Festival Hall and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.
In 2021 Samantha was a finalist for the Arts Foundation Futures Awards. 2021 also saw the opening of Current, Rising, a hyper-reality opera, directed by Netia Jones, designed by Jo Scotcher and produced by the Royal Opera House and Figment Productions.
Her first chamber opera, glass human, is a collaboration with multi-disciplinary artist Melanie Wilson. It premiered at Glyndebourne and toured venues across the UK in Autumn 2022 as part of the festival tour, directed by Lucy Bailey.
In 2023, Balconies for solo (multi-tracked) violin, was commissioned by Olivia de Prato for her new album Panorama (New Focus Recordings, April 2023). Also in 2023, Sound Inhabitants for large ensemble was commissioned and premiered by the London Sinfonietta.
Samantha studied Composition at the Royal Academy of Music and the University of Oxford. She is a Senior Lecturer in Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London.
(Photo credit: Isabelle Rose Povey)