Steven Sametz (b. 1954, Westport, Connecticut) has been hailed as “one of the most respected choral composers in America.” Though best known for his work in choral and choral-orchestral repertoire, Sametz oeuvre includes solo songs, opera, ballets and works for orchestra and chamber ensembles.
Sametz has received commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Connecticut Council on the Arts, and the Santa Fe music festival, creating new works for Chanticleer, The Princeton Singers, the Dale Warland Singers, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, Cantus, Philadelphia Singers, Pro Arte Chamber Choir, Connecticut Choral Artists, Joyful Noise and the King of Thailand. In 2011, Sametz received one of the country’s most prestigious choral commissions, the American Choral Director Association’s Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission, writing Three Mystical Choruses for premiere by Chanticleer at the 2011 ACDA National Convention in Symphony Hall, Chicago. Sametz’s ballet, Small Steps/Tiny Revolutions has been performed world-wide by the Rioult Dance Company. His Music’s Music, commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, was premiered at Disney Hall in Los Angeles. Dr. Sametz’s compositions have been heard throughout the world at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Santa Fe music festivals. His in time of, a setting of e.e. Cummings poetry, appears on Chanticleer’s Grammy Award-winning CD, The Colors of Love.
Dr. Sametz has served a chair of the American Choral Directors Composition Advisory Committee, heading panels to adjudicate choral competitions throughout the US. Dr. Sametz has served as panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Chorus America, the American Guild of Organists, the American Composers Consortium and the National Collegiate Choral Organization.
