Samantha Bennett

Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as a violinist “requiring no caveats, full of subtlety and poise,” Samantha Bennett is an active and varied performer around the nation. She was recently appointed to the violin section of The Florida Orchestra, beginning September 2015. She performs regularly with Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, and Sarasota Orchestra and is a frequent Guest Concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony.

As a recitalist, she has performed in Boston’s Jordan Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. She is a prize winner as both soloist and chamber musician at the MTNA and ASTA national competitions, the Chicago Union League Civic and Arts Competition, Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and the Johansen International Competition. She has participated in the internationally renowned Lucerne Festival Academy, Spoleto Festival USA, the Music Academy of the West, and the Tanglewood Music Festival, where she was awarded the 2013 Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize. She had the privilege of performing at Tanglewood as a 2014 New Fromm Player, a group of Tanglewood Music Center alumni who specialize in contemporary music performance, and will return to that position in June 2015. The New Fromm Players performed new works to critical acclaim as Ensemble­In­Residence at the 5th Anniversary of renowned composer Bright Sheng’s contemporary music festival, The Intimacy of Creativity 2015, in Hong Kong (May 2015). Also as part of the TMC, she accompanied legendary soloists Yo­Yo Ma, Anne Sophie Mutter, Gil Shaham, and Emanuel Ax as part of the PBS broadcast Tanglewood’s 75th Anniversary Celebration.