Sam Chen

Biography

Samuel Chen serves as Instructional Assistant Professor at Illinois State University where he directs and conducts the Illinois State University Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia String Orchestra. He is also Music Director of Sinfonietta Honolulu, an ensemble he co-founded that focuses on historically informed performance practice of the classical style. He has served as Director for Campus Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Conductor for Symphony Orchestra and opera productions at the University of Iowa. Samuel was appointed as lecturer and sabbatical replacement at the University of Hawaii and has appeared as guest conductor and clinician for the Northern Valley Youth Orchestras in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Guest Artist-in-Residence with the Concordia Orchestras at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.

As a pianist and violinist, he holds degrees in piano performance from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and has performed chamber and orchestral works at the Monteux School and Music Festival and PRISMA Festival. Samuel’s doctoral recording project consists of commissions from Iowa composers featuring compositions inspired by nature incorporating extended techniques for undergraduate small ensemble.

In his free time, Samuel loves to travel and explore the world with his fiancée Kayla, trying new eats and looking for spots of serenity. He is also secretly a fan of Squishmallow frogs – the number of which he owns remains a mystery.