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Sam Meredith (b.2002) is a composer, singer and instrumentalist from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. He studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Paul Whitmarsh, graduating with First-Class Honours before pursuing an MA in Opera-Making, also at the Guildhall, which he is currently studying for with Julian Philips. His undergraduate studies at the Guildhall were generously supported by the Guildhall School Trust and he received a scholarship for further postgraduate study. His harmonically rich work is often inspired by literature and poetry. In 2022, Sam was awarded joint First Prize in the annual AESS English Song Competition where his setting of a poem by Emily Dickinson was performed by the soprano Sarah Leonard 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 on the theme of ‘Utopia’ which was commissioned by John Harle for the Bauhaus Festival in association with Ercol Furniture and Vidal Sassoon. In April 2024, Sam composed and produced a new opera - An Image of Stars - in collabration with the librettist, Olivia Bell. With the help of conductor Antoine Veillerette, he coordinated a team of 25 people who brought this production to life in Milton Court (Barbican).
After finishing A-levels in English Literature, History and Music, Sam started studying composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Here he studied with Paul Whitmarsh as well as Julian Philips and Julian Anderson. Since moving to London, he has joined many ensembles, including the 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 at Magpie’s Nest Festival (June 2023) and at Durham Cathedral (January 2024).
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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 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 classes 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 and Peggy Nolan which led to opportunities further afield, like performing Shostakovich’s 7th string quartet at the Ryedale Festival. At YYM he met composers Larry Goves and Bethan Morgan-WIlliams. Sam took part in music courses across the country attending Pro-Corda North, VaCO (Vacation Chamber Orchestra) 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 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, most notably in their final concert before lockdown when they performed Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony in Leeds Town Hall. As a freelancer, Sam has played for numerous concerts and services including Schubert’s Mass in G, and Handel’s Messiah, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers. Sam also plays the guitar, bass guitar and drums.