Samuel Bradshaw composes music with a kaleidoscope of timbral colors, attempting to channel the spirit of the spectral movement into musics he is inspired by across varied cultures, genres and eras. Trained as a percussionist/drummer, his work is influenced by performance experiences with avant-garde, orchestral, club jazz, wind/marching band and American folk ensembles. Bradshaw writes music with an effort to draw connections between the present and past, and is interested in examining the intersections between philosophy, art and science.

Bradshaw is the winner of the 2021 William Averitt Prize for Excellence in Composition for his piece Bury Me Not for percussion quartet. In the past year Bradshaw has also written I heard a Fly buzz - when I died for percussion quartet and dance. The piece’s text is sourced from the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name, and the choreography was created by Trey Gregg. It was premiered as a part of video submissions for ShenCoLAB, a student arts festival produced by Shenandoah Conservatory.

Bradshaw’s wind piece Abbreviated Language was premiered at the University of Mary Washington campus in Dodd Auditorium by the UMW Orchestral Winds in May of 2019. While at UMW, Bradshaw also wrote a handful of fixed media pieces including Electronic Study, which was showcased at the ElectroAcoustic Barn Dance in Jacksonville, Florida in November of 2018. At UMW he also composed a saxophone quartet recorded by New Thread Quartet and a percussion quartet recorded by Pana Percussion.

Born in 1995, Bradshaw has studied composition previously with Dr. Michael Bratt at the University of Mary Washington, and currently studies composition under Jonathan Newman and percussion under Earl Yowell at the Shenandoah Conservatory. He currently resides in Winchester, Virginia.

Visit www.samuelbradshawcomposer.com to learn more.