# James Sample (conductor) > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/James_Sample_(conductor) > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/James_Sample_(conductor).md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Sample_(conductor) > Source revision: 1353993552 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American conductor (1910–1995)}} {{More footnotes|date=November 2022}} thumb|James Sample '''James W. Sample''' (October 8, 1910 – October 7, 1995) was an American [conductor](/source/conducting). ==Biography== Sample was born in [Minneapolis, Minnesota](/source/Minneapolis%2C_Minnesota), and began studying the violin at age ten and piano at age eleven. By the age of twenty he conducted his first symphony{{Clarification needed |reason="First" as in his first concert as conductor or is this referring to a composition by Sample himself? |date=October 2023}} in Minneapolis. He earned his bachelor's in music degree at the [MacPhail School of Music](/source/MacPhail_School_of_Music) in 1930. In Europe, he studied for four years receiving a diploma at the [Mozarteum Salzburg](/source/Mozarteum_Salzburg) in 1934, and also studied with [Pierre Monteux](/source/Pierre_Monteux) who was conducting the Paris Symphony. Sample also studied with [Henri Verbrugghen](/source/Henri_Verbrugghen) and Bernhard Paumgartner. He also received a doctorate in music in 1942 from the [New York College of Music](/source/New_York_College_of_Music) and a doctor of laws degree from [Gannon College](/source/Gannon_University) in 1963. Sample was the Master of Music at [The Blake School](/source/The_Blake_School_(Minneapolis%2C_Minnesota)) in Minneapolis 1929–1933. He also organized the Little Symphony of Minneapolis 1931–1933. Guest conducting in Austria and France occupied his musical efforts in 1933–1937. He was the conductor for the symphony and opera music project in Los Angeles, 1938–1942. In this capacity he led the premiere of [Igor Stravinsky](/source/Igor_Stravinsky)’s choral and orchestral setting of [The Star-Spangled Banner](/source/The_Star-Spangled_Banner) on October 14, 1941 at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles featuring the WPA Orchestra, [Los Angeles Oratorio Society](/source/Los_Angeles_Oratorio_Society), and the WPA Negro Chorus. Beginning in 1942, he served as an assistant to Canadian conductor [Wilfrid Pelletier](/source/Wilfrid_Pelletier) at the [Metropolitan Opera](/source/Metropolitan_Opera). He made his conducting debut at New York’s City Center Opera Company replacing Laszlo Halasz on February 25, 1944 for [Friedrich von Flotow](/source/Friedrich_von_Flotow)’s opera Martha. He was with the Met and City Center Opera 1942–1945. He guest-conducted the [Utah Symphony Orchestra](/source/Utah_Symphony_Orchestra) 1945–1946 and is credited with a prominent role in the formation of that orchestra. He was the associate conductor for the [San Francisco Symphony](/source/San_Francisco_Symphony) transcontinental tour led by [Pierre Monteux](/source/Pierre_Monteux) in 1947. As such, he conducted the orchestra at [Carnegie Hall](/source/Carnegie_Hall) in "Happy Birthday to You" for Monteux's 72nd birthday on April 4, 1947. Sample was the conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony and Hollywood Chamber Orchestra 1947–1949. He was in charge of the KFI (Radio) Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles 1946–49. He was conducting their [Hollywood Bowl Orchestra](/source/Hollywood_Bowl_Orchestra) auditions when he was selected to be the conductor of the [Oregon Symphony](/source/Oregon_Symphony). He led that orchestra, then known as the Portland Symphony, in the years 1949–1953. He also led that orchestra in performances on the "Standard Hour" radio program. Sample was credited by the orchestra's manager Phil Hart with making the orchestra and conductor a part of community life. He succeeded [Fritz Mahler](/source/Fritz_Mahler) as conductor of the [Erie Philharmonic](/source/Erie_Philharmonic) in 1953, which he conducted 1953–1967; and became conductor of the [Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra](/source/Fort_Wayne_Philharmonic_Orchestra) in 1967. He retired from conducting in 1982 to devote his time to composition and coaching advanced vocal students. ==Personal life== James Sample was married to Ernestine F. Sample (August 15, 1909 – September 6, 1980). Her father was [Earnest Andersson](/source/Earnest_Andersson), a polymath and self-taught composer whose music Sample championed.{{cite journal |last=Slim |first=H. Colin |title=Lessons with Stravinsky: The Notebook of Earnest Andersson (1878–1943) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jams.2009.62.2.323 |journal=Journal of the American Musicological Society |date=Summer 2009 |publisher=[University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press) |volume=62 |issue=2 |jstor= 10.1525/jams.2009.62.2.323|page=332}} He died in 1995 of a heart condition in [Meadville, Pennsylvania](/source/Meadville%2C_Pennsylvania) on the day before what would have been his 85th birthday. He is buried in the Columbarium Chapel of [Lakewood Cemetery](/source/Lakewood_Cemetery) in Minneapolis.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} ==Awards== *City of Erie Award, 1967 ==References== {{reflist}} *"Coast Orchestra Here for Concert", ''New York Times'', April 10, 1947, p. 36. *"The Experience of a Cooperative Orchestra: Husband and Wife", ''New York Times'', March 26, 1950, p. 103. *"New Symphony Conductor Arrives to Prepare for Season Opening", ''Oregonian'' August 7, 1949, section 1 p. 1. *"Obituary". ''Erie-Times News'', October 8, 1995. *"A Quarter of a Century of Symphonies on the Air", ''New York Times'', October 21, 1951, p. 107. *Stoddard, Hope. ''Symphony Conductors of the U.S.A.'' New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1957. *''Who’s Who in the Midwest 1970–71''. Chicago: Marquis. *"The World of Music", ''New York Times'', September 13, 1953, p. X7. {{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{succession box | title=Conductor, [Portland Symphony Orchestra](/source/Oregon_Symphony) | before=[Werner Janssen](/source/Werner_Janssen) |years=1949–1953 |after=[Theodore Bloomfield](/source/Theodore_Bloomfield)}} {{s-end}} {{Oregon Symphony conductors}} {{Erie Philharmonic conductors}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sample, James}} Category:1910 births Category:1995 deaths Category:American male conductors (music) Category:Musicians from Oregon Category:New York College of Music alumni Category:Music directors of the Oregon Symphony Category:Burials at Lakewood Cemetery Category:20th-century American conductors (music) Category:20th-century American male musicians --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James Sample (conductor)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Sample_(conductor)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Sample_(conductor)?action=history)). 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