He is a violinist, violist and conductor who studied at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston and continued his music education in Norway where he conducted the youth chamber orchestra of the school, attended Oslo’s Barratt-Dues Musikkinstitutt.
He performed with the Stavanger Symphony and became a member of the Oslo Philharmonic followed by Krakow’s European Mozart Academy. This allowed him to perform all over Europe before returning to the United States.
Once he was back home he performed with countless orchestras and ensembles that include the the Capital Ensemble, Colorado Symphony, the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Debussy Trio, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New Hollywood String Quartet, the Orchestra of the Californias, the Pacific Symphony, the San Diego Symphony and the Vista Trio.
He also became a co-founder and director/musician of the Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival and Romauldo String Trio.
In 2000 he became a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and moved on in the 2010s to join the Oklahome City Philharmonic. Involved in music festivals, he is listed as a performer at the Festival Mosaic’s Wintermezzo Series in 2008-9.
Acting as a Hollywood studio musician he has performed on the soundtracks of Avatar, Fantastic 4, Hold Up, Inside Man, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Letters of Iwo Jima, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Miracle at St. Anna, National Treasure, Shall We Dance, Sin City and War of the Worlds amongst countless others.
The other albums his work features on include Retrace Our Steps: A Secular Oratorio in 4 Acts by The Paul Bailey Ensemble, Breakthrough by Mary J. Blige, Full Circle by Boyz II Men, Harmonium by Vanessa Carlton, Forever Ray Charles by Ray Charles, Under My Skin by Avril Lavigne, Greatest Songs of the Fifties by Barry Manilow, Isn’t It Romantic: The Standards Album by Johnny Mathis, Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse by Mannheim Steamroller, PCD by The Pussycat Dolls, Dana Owens Album by Queen Latifah, Moonlight Serenade by Carly Simon, Colour Me Free by Joss Stone and This Guy’s In Love by Steve Tyrell.
In the world of musical education he has been a teacher of violin, viola and chamber music at Biola University until 2010 before joined the faculty of the Oklahoma City University. He has also run his own studios to give private tuition.
Here he is performing the third movement from Karen Khanagian’s “Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 10” with the Academy Sinfonia at Oklahoma City University in May 2012…
Sources:
- http://www.laco.org/artists/32/
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1402108/
- http://academics.biola.edu/music/faculty/samuel-formicola/
- http://www.discogs.com/artist/Sam+Formicola
- http://www.festivalmozaic.com/wintermezzoartists2009.html
- http://ww.gccmf.org/faculty.asp?f=sform.asp
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=41:170053~T3
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kvfqxq9kldae~T4