Hailed by the CBC as one of Canada’s top ’30 under 30’ classical musicians, Samuel Kerr is a Calgary-born percussionist, pianist, conductor, and composer. Equally at home in the worlds of performing and creating, Sam’s music examines the role of memory, belonging, and the shifting concepts of home brought about through one’s coming of age. Further inspired by stark alpine soundscapes and wide-open spaces, his work combines a reverence for the natural world and mountains he grew up in with the permeating percussive rhythms and textures of his extensive background as a performer.
This fall, Sam begins his 3-year term as a Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he will be mentored by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and James Ross. The summer of 2026 brings him to Ottawa for the National Arts Centre Mentorship Program as a Conducting Mentee, working with Music Director Alexander Shelley and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. A passionate educator, he serves as a guest conductor at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, where he founded a series of ad hoc orchestral repertoire readings in that institution’s college division, enabling students to read through works such as Eine Alpensinfonie, Ein Heldenleben, Scheherazade, and Mahler’s 3rd Symphony in a laid back, music-focused environment.
Sam was a winner of the 2025 New England Conservatory Orchestral Composition Contest with his overture Desolate Void, Ecstatic Flight, and was named a double winner of the NEC Chamber Honours Composition Contest in the spring of 2026. In November of 2024 he had the privilege of returning to Toronto to premiere a new concerto for percussion and wind ensemble, Prairie Concerto, with Gillian MacKay and the UofT Wind Ensemble. In the spring of 2023, he made his debut conducting the premiere of his overture, Fast Vibe in a Short Machine, in Roy Thomson Hall with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Sam studied percussion and composition at the University of Toronto and New England Conservatory, where he was pleased to count Kati Agócs, Michael Gandolfi, Gary Kulesha, and Aiyun Huang among his primary mentors. He is a proud alumnus of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, joining the ensemble for the summers of 2022 and 2023 and receiving an Award of Excellence for both sessions.
In his free time, Sam can be found either exploring the mountains or trying to fit very large instruments into very small cars.
Named by the CBC as one of Canada’s ’30 under 30’ classical musicians, Calgary-born Samuel Kerr enjoys a diverse musical life as a conductor, composer, and percussionist.
Sam serves as a guest conductor at the Preparatory School of the New England Conservatory, where he founded a series of ad hoc orchestral reading sessions for students in the college division. A committed educator, he led the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra in the premiere of his overture Fast Vibe in a Short Machine in the spring of 2023.
As a composer, he has written for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Adelio String Quartet, Nautilus Brass, and celebrated performers such as Beverley Johnston, Andrew Busch, and Jacob Valcheff. Sam is looking forward to completing a new Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra for the Victoria Symphony and Mr. Valcheff for November of 2026.
A graduate of the University of Toronto and New England Conservatory, Sam joins the Curtis Institute of Music this fall as a Conducting Fellow under the tutelage of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and James Ross.
