SHORT BIO
Based between France and Ireland, Cork-born Sam Perkin composes music for leading musicians and ensembles in Ireland and abroad. In the space between classical and experimental music, his artistic work has a particular focus on the exploration of wonder and awe.
Sam has had fruitful collaborations with a vast array of performing artists such as The Irish Chamber Orchestra, Luminosa Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, The Vanbrugh Quartet, Marmen Quartet, Crash Ensemble, Explore Ensemble, Trompo, Finghin Collins, Miranda Cuckson, Vicky Chow, James McVinnie, Fidelio Trio, Sitkovetsky Trio, and Paddington Trio.
He has also successfully worked with festivals such as Musica Nova Festival Helsinki, Network For New Music Philadelphia, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Louth Contemporary Music Festival, Buxton International Festival UK, Sound Scotland Festival, Gregynog Festival Wales, Festivalta Norway, and La Cote Flute Festival Switzerland.
Sam’s music has been performed in over 20 countries and he had a Wigmore Hall debut in 2023 with his Piano Trio “Freakshow”, which has now been performed over 40 times worldwide. Notably, Perkin’s work “Visualization” was performed by Dejana Sekulič at the opening launch concert of the 33rd Music Biennale Zagreb in 2024.
Sam holds degrees in Composition from the Cork School of Music, Ireland, and an Artist Diploma from Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, France, where he was awarded the Prix Salabert for Composition.
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LONGER BIO
Based between France and Ireland, Cork-born Sam Perkin composes music for leading musicians and ensembles in Ireland and abroad. In the space between classical and experimental music, his artistic work has a particular focus on the exploration of wonder and awe.
Sam has had fruitful collaborations with a vast array of performing artists such as The Irish Chamber Orchestra, Luminosa Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, The Vanbrugh Quartet, Marmen Quartet, Crash Ensemble, Explore Ensemble, Trompo, Finghin Collins, Miranda Cuckson, Vicky Chow, James McVinnie, Fidelio Trio, Sitkovetsky Trio, and Paddington Trio.
He has also successfully worked with festivals such as Musica Nova Festival Helsinki, Network For New Music Philadelphia, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Louth Contemporary Music Festival, Buxton International Festival UK, Sound Scotland Festival, Gregynog Festival Wales, Festivalta Norway, and La Cote Flute Festival Switzerland.
Sam’s music has been performed in over 20 countries and he had a Wigmore Hall debut in 2023 with his Piano Trio “Freakshow”, which has now been performed over 40 times worldwide. Notably, Perkin’s work “Visualization” was performed by Dejana Sekulič at the opening launch concert of the 33rd Music Biennale Zagreb in 2024.
Grey Area (2017-19), his first major work for Crash Ensemble, imaginatively blends the worlds of Street Skateboarding with Contemporary Music and received its first three performances at Music Town Dublin, Sounds From A Safe Harbour Cork, and Musica Nova Festival Helsinki. Waves (2016-18) is an attempted self-cure for tinnitus and is one of the fruits of a bountiful collaboration between The Irish Chamber Orchestra and the composer over a number of years, supported by The Arts Council of Ireland.
Language (2017), a substantial work for Solo Violin, was commissioned by West Cork Chamber Music Festival for contemporary violin specialist Miranda Cuckson and explores the inner workings of different human languages. Twitter (2018) for Flute Choir, Audience, Smartphones and Video was commissioned by La Côte Flûte Festival Switzerland. In Orchestra In The Digital Age (2019), he blends the Symphony Orchestra and Sine Tones together in a piece that glows and completely immerses the listener, composed for the CMC’s Composer Lab performed by the RTÉ NSO. In ‘<3’ (2019), composed for double bassist Caimin Gilmore, he notably explores the musicality of children giggling.
In Alta (2019), Sam collaborated with Finnish scientist and Northern Lights specialist, Unto K. Laine, to include the recently discovered and recorded apparent sounds of the Aurora Borealis in a work commissioned by Alta Chamber Music Festival, Norway. Premièred in 2021, Sam’s highly visual and imaginative work Visualization (2021) was performed by Luminosa Orchestra at Galway Cathedral. Inspired by the Sonic Meditations of Pauline Oliveros, the work of Andrei Tarkovsky and Dalcroze specialist Diane Daly, the new work signalled a ritualistic return to live performance, exploring through physical gesture what it means to be together at a concert.
Suburban Distortion (2021), for Three Guitars (Distorted Electric Guitar, Clean Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar), was composed for Network For New Music, Philadelphia, for guitarist Thomas Schuttenhelm. Children In the Universe (2020-22), a large-scale symphony for Crash Ensemble with Diamanda Dramm as Guide, was performed at Galway Arts Festival and New Music Dublin in 2022 and released by Crash Ensemble in 2023. In 2023 he received his debut performance at Wigmore Hall, London, in which his Piano Trio "Freakshow" was performed by The Sitkovetsky Trio.
In 2025, "Le Monde des Adultes" will be performed at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition by 26 pianists at the competition in Switzerland.
In 2017, Sam was awarded The Next Generation Bursary from The Arts Council of Ireland. He has done educational workshops and been composer-in-residence with The Irish Association of Youth Orchestras & ConCorda Chamber Music Course for Strings. He has taught as guest lecturer at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, Maynooth University, MTU Cork School of Music & Hartt School of Music, Connecticut, USA.
Sam holds degrees in Composition from CIT Cork School of Music, Ireland, and an Artist Diploma from Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, France, where he was awarded the Prix Salabert for Composition.
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“As an artist I seek to explore the pure wonder of being, in resonance with others.
Music’s untold persuasiveness is a boundless source, a lifetime's sacred call.
Wholeheartedly balancing intuition with intellect, I venture deep into awe.”
“A thing of mesmerising beauty”
— David Kettle, The Scotsman