Samuel Rosenthal

Acclaimed for his generous musical spirit, violist Samuel Rosenthal delights in sharing music with audiences of all ages and collaborating with some of today's preeminent artists. His performances are recognized for their “intimate, personal approach” (Journal of the American Viola Society) and communicative style “clearly conveying the range of human emotions” (ClevelandClassical.com). 

Sam was the recipient of the silver medal at the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition. Other awards and recognitions include major prizes at the Johansen International Competition and, as a member of the Razumovsky String Quartet, at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Sam began his musical studies in Cleveland and continued his viola studies with Jeffrey Irvine as a member of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His passion for chamber music was ignited by formative work with the Cavani String Quartet and Cleveland Quartet violinist Peter Salaff. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Perlman Music Program community as a student at both the Summer Music School and the Chamber Music Workshop. His time at PMP involved transformative travel residencies to Sarasota, Palm Beach and Tel Aviv, Israel. 

Chamber music plays a central part in Sam’s musical life. This past summer he attended the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, where he had the opportunity to perform and collaborate with its legendary roster of extraordinary artists. Sam has been invited to perform at a variety of celebrated chamber music festivals across the United States and abroad, including Chamberfest Cleveland, Musique de Chambre en Normandie, Music from Angel Fire, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute and Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival. In March 2024, he performed at the Schiermonnikoog Festival in the Netherlands, where he received the Audience Prize. He is grateful to have performed with some of the preeminent artists of our time including Itzhak Perlman, Miriam Fried, Joseph Lin and Anthony McGill. 

Sam is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he had the honour of studying with Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory and Hsin-Yun Huang, and was the proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. His studies of viola and chamber music have also included work with esteemed artists such as Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian, Donald Weilerstein, Roger Tapping, Yura Lee, Merry Peckham and Joel Krosnick.

Samuel Rosenthal has been studying at Kronberg Academy with Nobuko Imai since 2024. His studies are funded by the Annika and Wolfgang Fink Patronage.