Ensemble Work
Through his time at Westminster, Sam performed in many different ensembles, from the schools professional auditioned choirs to the many A Capella groups he joined on campus. Singing and performing in musical ensembles is one of Sam's favorite ways to perform music.
In his senior year at WCC, Sam joined the College's namesake auditioned choir, Westminster Choir. The Choir toured and performed at a number of venues, and recorded an album that will be coming out later within the year. Here is a video of the ensemble performing Sir James Macmillan's "O Radiant Dawn".
Quatre Pere.MOVAlso in his senior year, Sam started working with a group of friends singing small 4 and 5 part pieces. This group, aptly named the Choir Next Door, performs all different forms of repertoire, from barbershop to madrigals to pop songs to Bach fugues. Here is the group performing movements 3 and 4 of Francis Poulenc's Quatre petites prières de saint François d'Assise.
FPC Quartet.mp4Both in and post-college, Sam worked as a section leader and soloist at many churches around New Jersey. In doing so, he continues to grow as both an small ensemble singer and a large ensemble singer. Here is a recording of Mendelssohn's "Cast Thy Burden Upon The Lord", sung by Sam and other section leaders in a quartet at one of the churches he was a section leader for, FPC Moorestown.
Festina.MP4One of the first times Sam did any ensemble work outside of his high school band and choir programs was for a festival/adjudication in Rhode Island called Solo and Ensemble, in which high school students from across the state perform in groups and alone and get adjudicated for their work, and the best groups and soloists go on to perform at Providence College. Sam and his friend's quartet got to perform at said festival their senior year of high school, performing "Domine, Ad Adjuvandum Me Festina" by G. B. Martin.
During Sam's freshman year of college at WCC, he auditioned for and got into Westminster's competitive mixed A Cappella group, the Deaftones. This group went on to perform at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella quarter finals, where they got first place and would have gone onto the semi-finals, if it wasn't for the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is a recording of their quarter finals performance.
Friends Like Me.movAlso during Sam's freshman year of college at WCC, he auditioned for and got into Westminster's Tenor/Bass A Cappella group, Soulfege. In this group, which Sam remained a part of for all 4 years, Sam performed and had solos in many different styles of A Cappella music. Here is a recording from his freshman year, where they performed an arrangement of "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin.
During Sam's sophomore year at Westminster, Soulfege A Cappella began the arduous process of recording a studio album. Titled Friends Like Me, this album features Sam singing a pop solo on one of the songs, a mashup of "Changes" by XXXTentacion and "I Fall Apart" by Post Malone.
DT.movDuring Sam's junior year of college, he was elected as the Music Director/President of the Deaftones A Cappella. As music director, he taught all the music to the group and led the group to a first place performance at the 2021-2022 ICCAs, which is still one of his proudest memories of college. Here are two pieces sang by that years group in preparation for the competition.
Sleigh Ride.mp4For the Westminster Choir College's winter performance Holliday's with Westminster, the Westminster Concert Bell Choir, which Sam was a part of for all 4 years of college, performed an arrangement of "Sleigh Ride". The bell choir is one of, if not the most well known and well regarded collegiate bell choir in the nation.