Sam Stadlen

A viol player, lecturer, musicologist, filmmaker and audio engineer based in the UK, Sam has performed across Europe, the US, Canada, and in South America. Sam has been a member of Fretwork since 2015, appearing with the group regularly live and on the radio both in the UK and internationally. He also appears as a continuo player and soloist on viol and cello with a number of early music ensembles. These include the viol consort Chelys, with whom he has recently recorded a CD of music by Dowland with Dame Emma Kirkby (A Pleasing Melancholy – available on BIS Records). He has a keen interest in the performance of contemporary music on early instruments; with Fretwork in particular, he has performed and recorded music by George Benjamin, John Taverner, Orlando Gough, and Nico Muhly and has recently recorded a CD of music by Michael Nyman with countertenor Iestyn Davies, including a new commission (If, available on Signum Records). His new UK/Canada ensemble, LSJ Trio, with baroque violinist Paul Luchkow and harpsichordist/fortepianist Michael Jarvis recently completed its inaugural tour of British Columbia, Canada, culminating in a Main Stage performance for the world-renowned Vancouver Early Music Festival. LSJ Trio's debut album, the world premier recording of Tommaso Giordani's Sonatas Op. 30, was released in 2019. Two new releases will follow soon.
 
In addition to his performing work, Sam is Viol Consort Professor at the Royal College of Music in London and has been an associate lecturer at the University of York and a guest lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music. He is also a sound and video engineer, and produces promotional videos and recordings of live concerts. He holds a PhD in the influences of poetry and declamation on the composition and performance of the pièces de viole in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century France.