Samara Rice is a contemporary classical music composer and educator based in Southern California. Textural elements, unusual instrumentation, extended performance techniques, and imagery inspiration combine themselves to form her compositional sound.
Her works have received performances and workshops from notable ensembles such as the Southern California Brass Consortium, Constellation Men’s Ensemble, Wind Up Elephant (Robert Fleitz & Carrie Frey), Friction Quartet, HOCKET, Nadia Shpachenko, VEDA Quartet, Gnarwhallaby, Amy O’Dell, Choral Arts Initiative, Mivos Quartet and Hannah Addario-Berry, among others. In addition to concert works, Samara is a frequent collaborator and composer for theatre, dance, animation, and film productions.
Samara is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach. She graduated cum laude from the University of California, San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in music composition, and was selected to participate in the prestigious honors program, which culminated in a solo honors recital. She was awarded The Steward Prize for an outstanding creative work.
Samara studied music composition at UCSD with Dr. Lei Liang, Dr. Chinary Ung, Rand Steiger, and Dr. Philippe Manoury. She studied music composition, music theory, piano performance and pedagogy at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA under the tutelage of Dr. Norman Weston, Pamela Worcester and the late Dr. Rebecca Rollins.
At UCSD, Samara also had the opportunity to broaden her musical knowledge with courses complementary to composition. She studied recording, mixing, and mastering techniques in a state-of-the-art studio with Tom Erbe (SoundHack), completed a yearlong series of courses in jazz theory and improvisation with Kamau Kenyatta, took private violin lessons with Batya MacAdam-Somer, and even spent a quarter studying conducting with Dr. Chinary Ung.
Along with composing, Samara shares her love for music as the owner and instructor of Samara Rice Music, a thriving music studio in Southern California. More information about lessons and Samara Rice Music is available at www.SamaraRiceMusic.com.
Samara is a member of The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), The Music Teachers’ National Association (MTNA), The Music Teachers’ Association of California (MTAC), The California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT), American Composers Forum, and The Alliance for Women Film Composers.