Sam Peña, pianist improviser
DEBUT’s Resident Pianist Improviser | Horizon Artist 2022
Spanish pianist Sam Peña occupies a space where classical meets pop, folk and film music through his extraordinary talent as an improviser. He is one of the first musicians to have a Masters Course at Conservatoire level specially created for him, a ‘Piano Masters in Interpretation and Improvisation’ at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, bringing together his skills in jazz, composition and classical. Graduating with Distinction in 2019, he spent the following year as a Fellow with the Composition Department.
During lockdown Sam composed One Shoe of Each Colour, a musical all about his journey as a trans man. Championed by GSMD as a musical having ‘all the ingredients to be the next hit’ the piece is garnering much interest and is due to be released later in the year. During this time Sam also featured as part of Yamaha’s ‘Live From Home’ Europe wide Live Stream series.
Since 2018 Sam has been resident pianist for DEBUT at Shoreditch Treehouse. His journey with the company was one of the inspirations behind DEBUT’s 2022 artist development programme, Horizon Project.
Every week we share new recordings from our Brunel Museum and Shoreditch Treehouse concerts, as well as specially recorded performances. Here’s the latest from our DEBUT at Shoredtich Treehouse series, featuring pianists Rieko Makita, Gamal Khamis and Sam Peña, singers Meriel Cunningham and Lizzie Holmes and clarinettist Guillermo Ramasasa.