Samara Rice is a contemporary classical music composer and educator based in Southern California. Textural elements, unusual instrumentation, extended performance techniques, and imagery inspiration combine themselves to form her compositional sound.
Her works have received performances and workshops from notable ensembles such as the Southern California Brass Consortium, Constellation Men’s Ensemble, Wind Up Elephant (Robert Fleitz & Carrie Frey), Friction Quartet, HOCKET, Nadia Shpachenko, VEDA Quartet, Gnarwhallaby, Amy O’Dell, Choral Arts Initiative, 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 is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach . She graduated cum laude from the University of California, San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in music composition, and was selected to participate in the prestigious honors program, which culminated in a solo honors recital. She was awarded The Steward Prize for an outstanding creative work.