Composer Samuel Siskind (b. 2006) is quickly “emerging as one of the most promising young composers of his generation” (UCLA Composition Department Chair Dr. Ian Krouse). His work has been premiered, performed, and recorded by ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, USC Thornton Symphony, Choral Arts Initiative, The Golden Bridge, Fourth Wall Ensemble NYC, and the GRAMMY® Award-winning National Children’s Chorus. 

His works have been heard at venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall, Royce Hall at UCLA, MAPO Arts Center (Seoul), Santori Hall (Tokyo) and at the Yellowstone International Arts Festival where his piece “Rain” was choreographed for Nadia Khan of Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma. (Link) Internationally, his music has toured throughout Asia, with a notable highlight being an internationally televised performance from the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where his piece “The Forest” opened the Lindenbaum Peace Festival in collaboration with musicians from both North and South Korea. (Link)

At age 15, Samuel became the youngest composer to be commissioned by The Golden Bridge, under the direction of Artistic Director Suzi Digby OBE and patron Morten Lauridsen. For this he reimagined the a cappella Renaissance classic Out from the Deep by Thomas Tallis, a work that went on to win him the 2024 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award. His choral cycle Release was named a finalist for the same award in 2023.

Samuel’s debut album Awake showcases a collection of vocal works performed by New York’s acclaimed Fourth Wall Ensemble, conducted by Sir Georg Solti Award winner Christopher Allen. The recording features GRAMMY® nominated baritone Johnathan McCullough and concludes with a solo piano piece performed by Siskind himself. Recorded at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York, the album followed the Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium premiere of Soaring Dreams by the GRAMMY® Award-winning National Children’s Chorus.

Awake has drawn widespread critical acclaim. Mark Gabrish Conlan of Fanfare Magazine praised Siskind’s “remarkable choral, vocal and piano music,” awarding the album 5 out of 5 stars. Ken Meltzer of the Atlanta Symphony noted that “[His] melodies are fresh, beautiful and memorable. Offering a bright, rich, and blended sonority in his choral settings [with] a marvelous shimmering quality that I find irresistible and enchanting.” UK critic Colin Clarke who regularly writes for Seen& Heard, Fanfare Magazine and Gramophone described the album as “rigorous,” commending Siskind’s “finely calibrated” dissonance and “real discipline at the compositional level.”

Samuel Siskind has twice been named an LA Phil Composing Fellow where he trained under acclaimed composers Andrew Norman and the late Sarah Gibson. He was 1 of 30 composers selected worldwide  by Dean and Director of Juilliard’s Music Division, David Serkin-Ludwig to participate in the inaugural Juilliard Summer Composition Program. He will begin his undergraduate studies at the USC Thornton School of Music with a focus on film composition.

Also an accomplished vocalist, Siskind appeared on the National Children’s Chorus album Illumine as the baritone soloist for the track, Ose Shalom by John Leavitt, recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the London Symphony Orchestra. The album recently surpassed 1 million streams. Samuel has been featured as a soloist with the NCC in concerts at Lincoln Center in New York, Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, and in the UK on a collaboration concert with VOCES8. He has toured internationally with the ensemble, performing at world-renowned venues including St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, the Berlin Wall, the Musikverein in Vienna, and on the GRAMMY® Award-winning album of the LA Philharmonic's recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel recorded at Walt Disney Hall. 

He made his operatic debut in 2017 as Sem in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde at LA Opera under the baton of Maestro James Conlon. He went on to perform the title role in Michael Jacobson’s “The Tinker of Tivoli,” with the National Youth Opera Academy and appeared as the bass soloist of Handel’s Messiah in NCC’s 20th Anniversary Concert. Additional accolades include Classical Voice Grand Prize Honorable Mention (2025) and Semifinalist (2024) at the LA Music Center’s Spotlight Awards. 

His performance of Panis Angelicus was prominently featured in the award-winning independent film The Uncanny (2022). Siskind was then chosen by Madonna, to be visually featured in her music video for God Control directed by Jonas Åkerlund.