Internationally acclaimed for his generous musical spirit, violist Samuel Rosenthal delights in sharing music with audiences of all ages and collaborating with some of today’s preeminent artists. His performances are recognized for their “intimate, personal approach” (Journal of the American Viola Society) and communicative style “clearly conveying the range of human emotions” (ClevelandClassical.com.

First Prize winner at the 2025 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and recipient of the silver medal at the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition, Sam began his musical studies in Cleveland, as a member of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His passion for chamber music was ignited by formative work with the Cavani String Quartet and Cleveland Quartet violinist Peter Salaff. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Perlman Music Program community as a student at both the Summer Music School and the Chamber Music Workshop. Sam has been invited to perform at a variety of celebrated chamber music festivals across the United States and abroad including the Marlboro Music Festival, Chamberfest Cleveland, Musique de Chambre en Normandie, the Schiermonnikoog Festival (Netherlands), Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute.

Sam is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he had the honor of studying with Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, and Hsin-Yun Huang and was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. He is currently studying at the Kronberg Academy under the tutelage of Nobuko Imai. These studies are funded by the Annika and Wolfgang Fink Patronage