Grodin has performed at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach, the San Diego Central Library, San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, and Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. He has appeared as soloist with the CSULB and Bellflower Symphony Orchestras and in master classes with Emanuel Ax, Rita Sloan, Blanca Uribe, Dominique Weber, Jeffrey Kahane, and Stephen Hough.
California native Samuel Grodin is enjoying an increasingly busy career as a solo and collaborative pianist. A prizewinner in the Seattle International Piano Competition and the Ibiza International Piano Competition, he has performed throughout the United States and Europe. As a pianist who prioritizes creative fearlessness and emotional honesty, he captivates and connects with his audiences. Grodin is known for offering programs of diverse repertoire, ranging from Bach to living composers, that weave together a narrative or theme.
Grodin has performed at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach, the San Diego Central Library, San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, and Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. He has appeared as soloist with the CSULB and Bellflower Symphony Orchestras and in master classes with Emanuel Ax, Rita Sloan, Blanca Uribe, Dominique Weber, Jeffrey Kahane, and Stephen Hough. A champion of new music, he has also performed with the SFCM New Music Ensemble and the Ensemble Parallèle, which in 2010 presented the West Coast premiere of John Rea’s re-orchestration of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck for chamber ensemble.
Grodin earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the USC Thornton School of Music, where he was winner of the Keyboard Department’s award for Outstanding D.M.A. Graduate in Piano. As a graduate teaching assistant at USC, Grodin taught group and applied piano to undergraduate and graduate students and was named Outstanding Keyboard Studies TA. He completed his Master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he was the recipient of the Harold W. Scheeline Piano Scholarship. His principal teachers have included Sharon Mann, Nina Scolnik, Lucinda Carver, Alan Smith, and Craig Richey. His chamber music coaches have included Alan Smith, Jennifer Culp, Timothy Bach, Kurt Muroki, Shun-lin Chou, and Craig Richey. He has also spent several summers at international music festivals, studying with Julian Martin, Robert McDonald, Antoinette Perry, Marc Durand, and Joseph Kalichstein.
In addition to his performing career, Grodin is in demand as a teacher and lecturer. He has taught at Los Angeles Pierce College and Fullerton College and is currently a member of the piano faculty at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB. He has a particular teaching and academic interest in injury prevention and the biomechanics of piano technique.