About

“As an artist I seek to explore the pure wonder of being, in resonance with others.
Music’s untold persuasiveness is a boundless source, a lifetime's sacred call.
Wholeheartedly balancing intuition with intellect, I venture deep into awe.”

Based between France and Ireland, Cork-born Sam Perkin composes music for leading musicians and ensembles in Ireland and abroad. He completed a residency in 2022 with Crash Ensemble, Ireland’s leading new music ensemble. In the space between classical and experimental music, his artistic work has a particular focus on the exploration of awe. Grey Area (2017-19), his first major work for Crash Ensemble, imaginatively blends the worlds of Street Skateboarding with Contemporary Music and received its first three performances at Music Town Dublin, Sounds From A Safe Harbour Cork, and Musica Nova Festival Helsinki. Waves (2016-18) is an attempted self-cure for tinnitus and is one of the fruits of a bountiful collaboration between The Irish Chamber Orchestra and the composer over a number of years, supported by The Arts Council of Ireland. Language (2017), a substantial work for Solo Violin, was commissioned by West Cork Chamber Music Festival for contemporary violin specialist Miranda Cuckson and explores the inner workings of different human languages. Twitter (2018) for Flute Choir, Audience, Smartphones and Video was commissioned by La Côte Flûte Festival Switzerland. In Orchestra In The Digital Age (2019), he blends the Symphony Orchestra and Sine Tones together in a piece that glows and completely immerses the listener, composed for the CMC’s Composer Lab performed by the RTÉ NSO. In ‘<3’ (2019), composed for double bassist Caimin Gilmore, he notably explores the musicality of children giggling. In Alta (2019), Sam collaborated with Finnish scientist and Northern Lights specialist, Unto K. Laine, to include the recently discovered and recorded apparent sounds of the Aurora Borealis in a work commissioned by Alta Chamber Music Festival, Norway. Premièred in 2021, Sam’s highly visual and imaginative new work Visualization (2021) was performed by Luminosa Orchestra at Galway Cathedral. Inspired by the Sonic Meditations of Pauline Oliveros, the work of Andrei Tarkovsky and Dalcroze specialist Diane Daly, the new work signalled a ritualistic return to live performance, exploring through physical gesture what it means to be together at a concert. Suburban Distortion (2021), for Three Guitars (Distorted Electric Guitar, Clean Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar), was composed for Network For New Music, Philadelphia, for guitarist Thomas Schuttenhelm. Children In the Universe (2020-22), a large-scale symphony for Crash Ensemble with Diamanda Dramm as Guide, was performed at Galway Arts Festival and New Music Dublin in 2022 and released by Crash Ensemble in 2023. In 2023 he received his debut performance at Wigmore Hall, London, in which his Piano Trio "Freakshow" was performed by The Sitkovetsky Trio.

“A thing of mesmerising beauty.”

— David Kettle, The Scotsman