Sam Meade
Sam Meade is a Suzuki violin instructor along with teaching Beginning Strings for grades K-5th and Middle School String Orchestra for the Arts Center. Sam has taught all over Illinois, Massachusetts, and the greater Kentuckiana area. After finishing his bachelor of music education at Clarks Summit University, he moved to Louisville, KY to attend the University of Louisville and serve as a graduate teaching assistant. He was the violist in the University of Louisville Graduate String Quartet coached by Patrick Rafferty and principal violist from 2012 - 2014 for the University Symphony Orchestra. In 2017, he accepted a graduate teaching position at Illinois State University, where he taught for the ISU String Project and served as a principal player in the University Symphony Orchestra. He has performed in the Kentucky Opera, Orchestra Kentucky, the Louisville Ballet and is also a founding member of the Peccatte String Quartet. He has performed in many masterclasses with wonderful clinicians such as Annie Fullard, Peter Slowik, Jeffrey Irvine, and Catharine Carroll Lees (ASTA 2014).
Sam’s primary teachers have included Fritz Valenches, Brittany MacWilliams, and Katherine Lewis. He received his registration in Suzuki Violin with Dr. Timothy Durbin (2012, 2015 - 2016) and is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, the American Viola Society, and the American String Teacher Association. In his short time in Central Illinois, he taught for the Rolland/Suzuki program at the Conservatory of Central Illinois and developed a great love for the teaching pedagogy of Paul Rolland. He currently directs the Seminary School of the Arts String Program and teaches and conducts for the Oldham County Art Center. While he loves to teach and perform, Sam has found his passion in directing string intensives. He is the director for the Kentucky Christian String Camp in Louisville, KY, the Whitinsville Christian String Festival in Whitinsville, MA, and helps coordinate the Heart of Illinois Summer Music Clinic in Mackinaw, IL.