Sam Armstrong, piano

Hailed as ‘a major new talent’ International Piano and a ‘pianist of splendid individuality’ Arts Desk English pianist Sam Armstrong made solo recital debuts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York as well as at the Wigmore Hall in London, and as concerto soloist with the National Symphony of Ecuador.

Passionate about chamber music, he has performed with musicians including cellists Alban Gerhardt, Raphael Wallfisch, Hannah Roberts and Ralph Kirshbaum, clarinettists Sarah Beaty, Pablo Barragan and Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer, and with singers Katharine Dain, Helen Sherman and Randall Scarlata. He has appeared in chamber music performances at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Mecklenburg-Vorpommen, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Ravinia and in venues such as Seoul Arts Centre, Esplanade Singapore, Kumho Art Hall Seoul, and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. He has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio Suisse-Romande/Espace 2, WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago and Radio New Zealand.

He was a prize winner in the Porto International Piano Competition, the Brant Piano Competition, Beethoven Society of Europe Competition, and was also laureate of the Epinal International Piano Competition in France. He has received awards from the Philharmonia Orchestra/MMSF, MBF/Help Musicians Fund, Wingate Foundation, Kirckman Concert Society and the Solti Foundation.

He studied with Helen Krizos in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music and later in New York with Richard Goode at Mannes College of Music. He also worked in Dublin with John O’Conor and in masterclasses with Leon Fleisher, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Mitsuko Uchida and Roger Vignoles.

Also a dedicated teacher, Sam serves on the piano faculty (since 2019) at TU Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama.