Sam began playing the piano at the age of six, inspired by evenings listening to crackly LPs of Beethoven sonatas with his Grandmother in the Lake District. His early teachers David Bonser and David Hartigan continued to inspire him and by the age of thirteen he had won 2nd prize in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition (to watch an extract click here). The Royal Philharmonic Society then awarded him their prestigious Isserlis Award, after which he moved to Vienna to study with Paul Badura-Skoda. He has since had further connections with the Isserlis name, having given several recitals with cellist Steven Isserlis, having performed works Steven’s grandfather Julius Isserlis and having composed a piece for cello and piano entitled “Homage to Julius Isserlis”. The Italian Schnabel-pupil Maria Curcio was his next major influence, studying with her at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Sam has performed all over the world as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He has collaborated with the concert-master of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Rainer Honeck, members of the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester, the Kuss and Alberni Quartets, cellists Steven Isserlis, Damien Ventula and Adrian Brendel, the wonderful Galliard Ensemble and clarinettist Katherine Ann Spencer.
He has given several recitals on Chopin’s own Pleyel piano of 1848 and also on fortepianos, including a recital at London’s South Bank Centre on both modern and period instruments. He is also keen to perform lesser-known works. Gade, Rosetti (Rosetti Festival, Germany) Elgar (the composer’s own piano version of then Enigma Variations at the Wigmore Hall), Mozart’s younger son Franz Xaver and John McLeod (piano sonata premiered by Sam Haywood at the Scottish Sound Festival) have recently featured in his programmes. He himself has composed several small-scale works, some of which can be heard here.
