Sam Chapman grew up in the English Westcountry. He studied classical guitar with Michael Lewin, and theorbo and baroque guitar with Elizabeth Kenny at the Royal Academy of Music, where he received the Julian Bream Prize and Robert Spencer Award. In 2004, he moved to Switzerland where he trained to be an Alexander Technique teacher. He was subsequently awarded a Leverhulme Studentship to pursue a master’s degree in lute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Hopkinson Smith, followed by a further master’s in basso continuo with Jesper Christensen.

Sam can be heard on numerous CD recordings and has performed at many major venues in Europe including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Berlin State Opera. As a continuo player he has worked with groups such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, under conductors including William Christie, Alessandro de Marchi, Diego Fasolis and Rinaldo Alessandrini. His regular chamber music partners include tenor Gerd Türk and recorder player Laura Schmid.

Alongside his busy performing career, Sam is regularly a teacher on early music courses and gives workshops for Alexander Technique. From 2008 until 2014 he was repetiteur for lute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, as well a guest teacher for lute and continuo at the Universidad Central in Bogota, Columbia. Since 2018 he has been teacher for lute/theorbo at the Universität der Künste Berlin.

Here you can watch Sam's interview on the Lute Channel podcast.