Maria Sampen, Violin

Professor Sampen is a native of Bowling Green, Ohio. She holds BMus and DMA from the University of Michigan, where she was a student of Paul Kantor, and a MMus from Rice University, where she studied violin with Kenneth Goldsmith and chamber music with Paul Katz and Norman Fischer. Ms. Sampen has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras throughout the United States and has appeared as a chamber musician in Europe, Asia and North America. Highlights include multiple performances of William Bolcom's Violin Concerto in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Texas and Colorado; an all-Schoenberg chamber music program with Pierre Boulez and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporaine at Carnegie Hall; and serving as concertmaster/solo violinist for productions of Bright Sheng's opera, Silver River, in Singapore. She has been featured as a soloist on several radio broadcasts throughout the country including live appearances on KING FM in Seattle, and public radio stations in Michigan, Nevada, Indiana and Illinois.

Ms. Sampen has held fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival. She has also performed and studied at the Mozarteum Sommerakademie in Salzburg, Austria, the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada and with the Dexter Quartet, as ensemble in residence at the Musicorda Festival in Massachusetts. Her 2005 summer schedule included solo and chamber music performances at the Methow Music Festival in Winthrop, WA, the Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance in New York City and the Conductor’s Retreat at Medomak in Maine.

An active proponent of contemporary music, she has collaborated with many composers including Pierre Boulez, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, John Harbison, Bernard Rands and William Albright. She credits much of her early interest in new music to her parents, composer/pianist Marilyn Shrude and saxophonist, John Sampen. Ms. Sampen spent a summer season as violinist/violist with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and is a member of the Ann Arbor based new music group, Brave New Works. Ms. Sampen made her New York City debut at Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Auditorium in June of 1996.

In addition to her busy performing schedule, Ms. Sampen remains a dedicated teacher. She maintains a very active studio of University of Puget Sound and high school students, coaches chamber music, and is chair of the string department. Her teaching efforts were awarded in 2005 when she won the Tom Davis Teaching Award. "I am struck by the intellectual curiosity and sophistication of Puget Sound students. They are musicians who study their art diligently and who are aware of the world that surrounds them. It is a delight to teach such talented and intelligent students.”