Sid Samberg (b. 1989) is a composer-pianist, multi-instrumentalist, writer, and educator. His music flows from an inner voice which connects the emotional content of sound with deeply felt aspects of human experience. He has been described as “uncommonly talented” (John Von Rhein - Chicago Tribune), and at age 15 was called a “mature artist” by the late violinist Ida Haendel, who was his cousin.

Samberg has been dubbed an “eco-pianist” as a result of his musical engagement with climate change. Several of his works, such as Larsen B (2004) and Harvest (2011) are inspired by or dedicated to our relationship with nature. He was invited to perform these at the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference (Chicago) and the Village Building Convergence (Portland, OR.)

His recent collaborations include Zero Tolerance, a project with C. Eule Dance Company about a mother and daughter separated by ICE at the US-Mexico border; the release of LUDO, an EP recording of a modular graphic score written for him by composer Drew Corey, and a performance on piano and keyboards with the NYC experimental black metal band Liturgy in their opera Origin of the Alimonies, at REDCAT in LA.

Samberg presented the world premiere of Transcendental Etude no. 38 (Kaikhosru Sorabji) on the Chicago Soundings series, curated by George Flynn. He also premiered George Floyd: In Memoriam, Kinderscenen South Africa, Lure (about the crisis of child soldiers), and Bovine Viola (dedicated to the victims of mad cow disease), all by Frank Abbinanti. For the John Cage Centennial celebration at New England Conservatory, Samberg was the soloist in a performance of Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra (part of the summer institute program curated by Stephen Drury.)

Starting in his early teens, Samberg joined several experimental musical groups, including the artist collectives Articular Facet, NonOp, the Chicago Scratch Orchestra, the Candy Store Henchmen, and Gino Robair’s improvised opera I, Norton. He has also taken part in numerous spontaneous musical events and festivals, such as two performances of John Cage's Musicircus (one at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary art, and another at the Chicago Cultural Center), a performance of Terry Riley's In C in Greenwich Village (conducted by Jed Distler) spanning two city blocks, a solo performance for Kathleen Supove’s Music with a View series in 2011, and a 24 hour performance of Satie's Vexations, played alongside Randall Wolff's Spineless Dog (NYC, 2015).

Samberg’s essay Rzewski as Shaman: The Search for the Source of the Power behind The People United will Never be Defeated!, was published in Contemporary Music Review, Nov. 2011.

Samberg has a degree in composition from California Institute of the Arts, having studied under Michael Pisaro, Nicholas Deyoe, Mark Lowenstein, as well as piano with Vicki Ray and Ming Tsu. His other teachers have included Frank Abbinanti (composition), Irene Faliks, Stephen Drury and Thomas Rosenkranz (piano), Param Vir (counterpoint), and Rami Solomonow (viola).