James Sample

James W. Sample (October 8, 1910 – October 7, 1995) was an American conductor.

Sample was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and began studying the violin at age ten and piano at age eleven. By the age of twenty he conducted his first symphony in Minneapolis. He earned his bachelor’s in music degree at the MacPhail School of Music in 1930. In Europe, he studied for four years receiving a diploma at the Mozarteum Salzburg in 1934, and also studied with Pierre Monteux who was conducting the Paris Symphony. Sample also studied with Henri Verbrugghen and Bernhard Paumgartner. He also received a doctorate in music in 1942 from the New York College of Music and a doctor of laws degree from Gannon College in 1963.

James Sample was the Master of Music at The Blake School 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 premier of Igor Stravinsky’s choral and orchestral setting of The Star-Spangled Banner on October 14, 1941 at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles featuring the WPA Orchestra, Los Angeles Oratorio Society, and the WPA Negro Chorus.

Beginning in 1942, he served as an assistant to Canadian conductor Wilfrid Pelletier at the 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’s opera Martha. He was with the Met and City Center Opera 1942-1945.

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