BIOGRAPHY

Samuel Rosner is a tenor and composer, currently based in New York. A recent graduate of the Graduate Diploma program at The Juilliard School, he was seen as Remendado (Carmen) and in recital earlier this season. He also recently performed concert solos in Britten's Canticle No. 2, L. Boulanger's Psaume 24 and Vielle Prière Bouddhique, and Messiah with several organizations in New York City. He looks forward to performances as the tenor soloist in Obadiah and as the Cantorial Soloist for Temple Beth Am's High Holidays Services in 2025, followed by a debut with Oratorio Society of New Jersey as the Tenor Soloist in Carmina Burana and a return to Teatro Nuovo, covering Elvino (La Sonnambula).

Samuel recently joined Wolf Trap Opera as a 2023 Studio Artist, covering Jupiter in Semele. He went on to sing Sheldon Segal (Later the Same Evening) with Juilliard Opera Theater and solos in Messiah and Britten's Canticle II. He previously covered Elvino in La Sonnambula with Teatro Nuovo and Tonio in La fille du régiment with Saint Petersburg Opera (Florida). He was a 2022 Sarasota Opera Apprentice Artist, singing in scenes from Così fan tutte, Carmen, and The Rake’s Progress. While at The Juilliard School he performed as the Tenor Soloist/First Man/Tenor Priestess in King Arthur with Juilliard Opera/Juilliard 415, and he sang as the tenor soloist in John Musto’s The Book of Uncommon Prayer. He also sang Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnets in Juilliard’s Liederabend Series. Samuel previously attended the Dual Degree Program between Harvard University and New England Conservatory, in which he studied Linguistics and Vocal Performance. Praised as “outstanding… both as a singer and a thoroughly persuasive actor” (The Boston Music Intelligencer), Samuel has previously performed opera roles such as Chevalier de la Force / L'Aumônier in Dialogues of the Carmelites (New England Conservatory Opera), Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Neo), Tamino in Die Zauberflöte (Harvard College Opera), Le Prince Charmant in Cendrillon (Harvard College Opera), and Évandre in Gluck’s Alceste with the Boston-based early music ensemble, Grand Harmonie.

Active on the concert stage, Samuel's performances include the tenor solos in Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Solemn Vespers with Kollective366, Bach’s ‘Jesu, der du meine Seele’ BWV 78, and McDowall’s On Angel’s Wing at the First Presbyterian Church in NYC, Shostakovich’s From Jewish Folk Poetry, op. 79 at the NEC Liederabend Series in Jordan Hall, Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, and Bach’s ‘Nun komm der Heiden Heiland’ BWV 61, under the baton of John Harbison with SongFest’s Bach institute.

Samuel has earned scholarships from the George London Foundation, a full merit scholarship at NEC (Anna Hu/Dean’s Scholarships), the Leonie Rysanek/Lisa della Casa Scholarship at Juilliard, Songfest’s Colburn Fellowship, and was named a John Harvard Scholar at Harvard University for being in the top 5% of his class. Samuel attended the Juilliard Pre-College for Voice and Composition, and was also a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus. His performances at the Metropolitan Opera included Trishka in War and Peace, the Second Spirit in Die Zauberflöte and the abridged holiday production of The Magic Flute, and as member of the Children’s Chorus in the 2009 HD telecast of Carmen. 

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As a composer, Samuel has written vocal, instrumental, chamber, choral, and electroacoustic works, as well as numerous film scores. His compositions have been premiered at venues such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Juilliard, and performed throughout the United States, as well as in France, Austria, Canada, and Israel. Samuel also performed his own settings of Hebrew Holocaust poems by Hannah Szenes on NPR’s From the Top, and recently, his film score for Jeff Liu’s After Life was screened for the film festival IFFBoston. Samuel’s original song cycles include “A Kindling Flame,” a cycle of poems by Hannah Szenes (performed on From the Top, at Harvard University, the University of Maryland, Juilliard, New England Conservatory, and with SongFest), “Autumn Songs,” a cycle of 5 imagist poems by Amy Lowell which was premiered at Northwestern University, and a grouping of several Yiddish folk song arrangements. Samuel’s choral pieces “Banegev Yibachen” and “Psalm 96” were premiered at Carnegie Hall by the HaZamir Choir, with Samuel playing piano for the premiere performances. His composition awards include prizes from the ASCAP Foundation’s Irving Caesar Fund, and from the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Samuel’s upcoming composition performances include his score for Jeffrey Liu’s film Hustle Mode (which he co-composed with Daniel Giebisch), which was selected for film festivals Nitehawk Shorts Festival, New/Next Film Festival, and IFFBoston. It was also selected as a 2025 Vimeo Staff Pick. He recently celebrated the premiere of his new song cycle, Songs from ‘The Gardener’ (a cycle of 4 Tagore settings) which was premiered by James McCarthy at Rice University. Samuel is also a pianist and often plays in performances of his own compositions. 

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Samuel has also curated several Holocaust Remembrance concerts, such as Harvard University's Beyond Barbed Wire: A Holocaust Remembrance Concert, as well as advising repertoire for New England Conservatory's Censored Voices Liederabend. Samuel’s concerts have often focused on music and poetry written in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt. Samuel enjoys singing Jewish cantorial music, and will be leading the 2023 High Holidays at Temple Beth Am in Pinecrest, Florida.