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Sam Meredith is a composer and multi-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 Emily Dickinson’s Wild Nights was performed in the London Song Festival. Sam’s music has also been featured as part of the BBC’s 30 Second Composition Challenge, in John Harle’s Bauhaus Festivals, and at the National Centre for Early Music in York. Recent projects include writing a piece for the Ligeti Quartet called Modesties, named after Philip Larkin’s poem. Currently, Sam is working on a new opera - An Image of Stars inspired by E. M. Forster’s short story The Machine Stops, with a libretto by Olivia Bell.
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. Currently, Sam is working on a full-length version of his opera The Machine Stops based on E. M. Forster’s short story, with a new libretto written by Olivia Bell.
Musical Life Story
Sam began his musical journey learning Suzuki violin at school. At the same time he was also a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral singing regularly in services every 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. 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 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 swing band at school 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.