Sam Matzner

A native of Arlington, Virginia, Sam graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in analytic philosophy as well as certificates in German and music performance in 2017. He was awarded the Old Warbeke Prize for his senior thesis Bodies of Work: A Study in the Modes of Decay and Endurance of Repeatable Works of Art.

Since then, his pursuits as a classical violist have taken him across the Atlantic and beyond, first to Salzburg, Austria for studies with Prof. Peter Langgartner at the Universität Mozarteum and subsequently to Zürich, Switzerland to receive instruction from international viola soloist and pedagogue Lawrence Power under the auspices of the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK). At the Zürich Opera House, Sam performed under the baton of conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda and Marc Albrecht and alongside soloists like Augustin Hadelich and Martin Helmchen; with the Camerata Bern, he took part in a performance of Giacinto Scelsi’s Natura Renovatur for string ensemble led by renowned concert violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Sam served as principal violist in the festival orchestras of Verbier, Zermatt, and the Music Academy of the West, and was recently invited to participate in conductor Alondra de la Paara’s Festival Paax GNP in Cancún, Mexico.

His experiences navigating foreign immigration systems galvanized his passion for international law, as a practitioner of which he hopes to protect and expand the rights of artists, founders and other visionaries seeking to use their creative talents to enrich cultural activity overseas. Neighboring legal interests include copyright, labor law, and tax.