Sam is a first-year Ph.D. student in Historical Musicology whose research interests center around the music of Hector Berlioz, ideologies of the early Romantic Era, historical brass playing, and the music of Japanese anime. Sam recently graduated from The Pennsylvania State University in May 2018 with his Master of Arts in Music with track in Musicology. His thesis, “Berlioz’s National Monumentalism: Expanding the Soft Power Paradigm,” written under the direction of Dr. Mark Ferraguto, explored Berlioz’s political music through the lens of twentieth-century diplomacy and places him in a ceremonial tradition stretching back to the French Revolution. Sam presented a paper based on that research at the November 2018 national meeting of the American Musicological Society in San Antonio, Texas.
In the spring of 2016, Sam graduated summa cum laude from The College of New Jersey, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Music and American Political Communication. Sam’s studies in both the Political Science and Communication Studies departments led to his nomination into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. His music capstone paper, “The Restoration, Reaction, and Revolution: Berlioz’s Requiem as a Product of the French Outlook on Religion and Romantic Ideals,” was published in The College of New Jersey Journal of Student Scholarship and was written under the direction of Dr. Wayne Heisler. Sam also presented the paper at the Spring 2015 meeting of the Mid- Atlantic chapter of the American Musicological Society at Muhlenberg College.
As a trumpet player, Sam has studied with Dr. Gary Fienberg at The College of New Jersey as well as Christian Jaudes of the Julliard School. Most recently, Sam has served as the principal and co-principal trumpet in the Symphonic Band at Penn State University under the direction of Professor Dennis Glocke. When not pursuing musicological interests or practicing, Sam enjoys composing, reading, gardening, exploring nature, and supporting the London-based Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.