About this Artist

Samantha Adams-Blanco is a sixteen-year-old composer and cellist. She is a junior at Los Angeles County High School of the Arts and studies cello with Benjamin Lash. She began her cello studies at age ten with Callie Gálvez after first hearing the instrument in a film score. This love of film music drove her to composition; her most recent contributions receiving “Best Score” award at LACHSA’s Sundown Film Festival. She is principal cellist of the Colburn Youth Orchestra and a member of Colburn’s Honors Chamber Music Institute, where she participated in a Sphinx Virtuosi masterclass. Samantha is a member of the 2022 Fortissima cohort and has placed in MTAC’s VOCE competition in solo and chamber categories and in SYMF’s solo competition. In her free time, Samantha enjoys filmmaking and is an avid reader. Samantha Adams-Blanco is a 2022/23 fellow in the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program.