SamWeller

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  • Fellow
  • Conductor

About Sam

Designate Winner (Finalist): Rotterdam International Conducting Competition 2024-25 Artistic and Music Director: Ensemble Apex

Sam Weller was recently announced as one of six ‘designated winners’ of the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, which saw him conduct ensembles such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Klangforum Wien and Orchestra of the 18th Century in 2025.

Sam is enjoying a blossoming career in The Netherlands and Australia, with a recent debut at the Concertgebouw with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and performances of two staged operas with ResidentieOrkest and the Dutch National Opera Academy. Upcoming highlights include debuts with the Tasmanian, Queensland and West Australian Symphonies and a return to Adelaide Symphony.

Originally from Australia and now based between Sydney and Amsterdam, Sam founded Ensemble Apex in 2016, which has been hailed as ‘one of the most exciting new ensembles on the Sydney scene’ (Limelight Magazine). In 2024 they launched Apex Festival supported by the Australian Government - a cutting edge new orchestral music festival in Australia.

In 2022, Sam graduated from the prestigious National Masters of Orchestral Conducting in The Netherlands where he studied with Ed Spanjaard, Jac Van Steen, Kenneth Montgomery OBE and guest professor Antony Hermus.

Sam is based in Amsterdam, Sydney

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Contact

For availability and general enquiries:

Edward Pascall

Edward Pascall

Associate Director

For contracts, logistics and press:

Joy Pidsley

Joy Pidsley

Associate Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Follow Sam

Season Highlights

Aug 2025
Odeon Theatre, Nipaluna/Hobart
Obscura 2 / Electronica: works by Hamilton, Bates, Mindson and Meredith Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Hannah Solveig, violin
Oct 2025
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Northern Lights, Southern Stars: Works by Grieg, Bizet, Mozart, Ravel and more Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Nov 2025
Studio Underground, Perth
Pandaemonium: works by Moore, Davies, Skipworth, Eotvos and more West Australian Symphony Orchestra
May 2026
Spot, Groningen
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 Noord Nederlands Orkest

Video

Photos

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News

Press

  • Ensemble Apex

    Apex Festival, Sydney
    Oct 2024

    • Weller’s passion as a conductor is so much fun to watch. All emotion on display in his gestures. He makes it easy to trace the way in which maestro and orchestra feed off the other’s energy. The danger and beauty of this work lies in its incredibly raw and stripped back nature, and Apex navigated it expertly – from the wretched whimpers of Scott McDougall’s prepared piano to the rasps of bowed cymbals and explosive tom hits from the percussion section, whose expansive and eclectic set of instruments made them the unsung stars of the work. Weller squeezed absolutely everything out of this ending, and Apex’s painstaking patience with the final chord reaped its well-earned reward – a thin, delicate tension that added a huge amount of depth to the work.