Sam Bergman, Executive Director

Sam Bergman, Executive Director

Apple Hill Executive Director Sam Bergman grew up playing music in small-town Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Viola Performance from Oberlin Conservatory. Prior to joining Apple Hill, he spent nearly 25 years performing as a member of the Minnesota Orchestra, and created multiple original concert series for that internationally renowned ensemble. In 2022, he co-created a major new project designed to reduce the orchestra’s reliance on and reproduction of white privilege, and to create mutual benefit for outstanding Black composers (and their heirs) both past and present. In its first three seasons, The Listening Project resulted in more than a dozen previously unrecorded works being performed, recorded, catalogued, and released online for free use.
Sam also served for 11 seasons as principal violist of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California, and has been a major advocate for new music and living composers in the classical field. In this role, he performed major premieres by dozens of 21st century composers, and worked with internationally renowned conductors to bring new music closer to home for audiences and musicians alike.

In addition to his onstage work, Sam has served as board president of CAYO (Cuban American Youth Orchestra,) and of The Moving Company, an award-winning theater company in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. He has taught music at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, Greenwood Music Camp in Massachusetts, and of course, at Apple Hill.

Photo by R. R. Jones