SAMARA RICE

SAMARA RICE is a contemporary classical music composer, pianist, toy pianist, and educator based in Southern California. Textural elements, unusual instrumentation, extended performance techniques, sound effects, gamification, and imagery inspiration combine to form her compositional sound. Ms. Rice's works have been performed and workshopped by notable ensembles and performers such as the Southern California Brass Consortium, Constellation Men's Ensemble, Nadia Shpachenko, Wind Up Elephant (Robert Fleitz & Carrie Frey), Friction Quartet, Hocket, VEDA Quartet, Gnarwhallaby, Amy O'Dell, Choral Arts Initiative, Nick Phillips, Mivos Quartet, and Hannah Addario-Berry, among others. In addition to concert works, Samara is a frequent collaborator and composer for theatre, dance, animation, and film productions. Samara holds an M.M. in music composition from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach and a B.A. in music composition, cum laude, with music department honors from the University of California, San Diego. While at UCSD, she was awarded the Steward Prize for an outstanding creative work.