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Sam Meredith (b.2002) is a composer and instrumentalist from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Now based in London, he studies composition with Paul Whitmarsh at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he is generously supported by a scholarship from the Guildhall School Trust. His harmonically rich work is often inspired by literature and poetry. In 2022, Sam was awarded joint First Prize in the AESS English Song Competition where his setting of a poem by Emily Dickinson was performed in the London Song Festival. Sam’s music has also been featured by the BBC, in John Harle’s Bauhaus Festivals, and at the National Centre for Early Music. Recent projects include writing a piece for the Ligeti Quartet called Modesties after Philip Larkin’s poem. In April 2024, Sam produced his new opera - An Image of Stars - in collabration with the librettist, Olivia Bell. He coordinated a team of 25 people who, together, made this production happen in Milton Court Theatre (Barbican). The project was inspired by E. M. Forster’s short story, The Machine Stops.
Sam is continuing his musical journey on the Opera Makers MA course at the Guildhall.
Photo: (Click to Enlarge)
Long Biography
Sam Meredith is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Currently based in London, he studies composition with Paul Whitmarsh at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he is generously supported by a scholarship from the Guildhall School Trust. His harmonically rich and lyrical work is often inspired by literature and poetry. In 2022 Sam took part in the AESS English Song Competition where his setting of Emily Dickinson’s Wild Nights was awarded joint First Prize and was subsequently performed by the soprano Sarah Leonard in the London Song Festival. This “exceptionally sensitive and effective response” (Stephen Gutman) was praised for its “very imaginative” (Nigel Foster) musical setting of the text which presented a “wonderfully rich relationship between voice and piano” (Robert Saxton). Sam’s music has also been played and recorded as part of the BBC’s 30 Second Composition Challenge, in John Harle’s Bauhaus Festivals, in the project ‘12’ at the Royal Academy of Music, and at the National Centre for Early Music in York as part of their BBC Young Composer competition where he worked with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble.
Recent projects include his string quartet Modesties written for the Ligeti Quartet which used Philip Larkin’s poem of the same name as a basis for structural and thematic ideas. Perhaps Sam’s biggest achievement to date is producing his first opera in collaboration with the soprano and librettist Olivia Bell. Sam organised a team of 25 people with the help of conductor Antoine Veillerette and they managed to fully stage the hour-long work, An Image of Stars in Milton Court Theatre (Barbican).
Musical Life Story
Sam began his musical journey learning Suzuki violin at school. At the time he was also a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral, singing regularly in services each week for five years. During his days as a treble he performed many roles including the part of the boy in Mendelssohn’s Elijah alongside the King’s Singer Stephen Conolly. He was a ‘pickled boy’ in Britten’s St. Nicolas with the National Festival Orchestra conducted by Dr. Simon Lindley, and understudied the role of the angel in Handel’s Joshua with Opera North. Sam has been a part of many productions at the Theatre Royal, Wakefield; performing as the Artful Dodger in Oliver! and as part of the chorus in Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar and Our House. He went on to join Yorkshire Young Musicians (YYM) which provides instrumental classes, as well as ear-training, chamber music, improvisation and electronic music. Here, Sam studied the violin with Claire Osborne of Opera North, piano with Slava Sidorenko, and played in numerous chamber ensembles mentored by Lucy Nolan which led to opportunities further afield, like performing Shostakovich’s seventh string quartet at the Ryedale Festival. At YYM he met composers Larry Goves and Bethan Morgan WIlliams. As well as this, Sam took part in music courses across the country attending Pro-Corda North, VaCO and NCO (National Children’s Orchestra) where the orchestra was joined by Nicola Benedetti and Wynton Marsalis in Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall. Sam was then selected as a violinist to join Nicola in Bridgewater Hall as part of her Italy And The Four Seasons tour in 2015. Closer to home, he played the viola and violin in Wakefield Youth Orchestra, West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, and led the City of Leeds Youth Orchestra in their final concert before lockdown when they performed Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony. As a freelancer, Sam has played for numerous concerts and services including Schubert’s Mass in G, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers. Sam also taught himself to play the guitar, bass guitar and drums, enabling him to play in the school swing band and in bands around Leeds.
After finishing A-levels in English Literature, History and Music, Sam moved to London in order to take up his place studying composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Here he studies with Paul Whitmarsh as well as having masterclasses with Julian Anderson. Since moving to London, he has joined many ensembles which perform in and around London, including: Export/Import, Idrisi Ensemble, Silk Street Sinfonietta, The Bauhaus Group, the choir of Christ Church, Kensington, YMSO and more. A couple of recent highlights include singing with Idrisi Ensemble at Magpie’s Nest Festival (June 2023) and playing at The Windmill, Brixton with Export/Import.