David Sampson
David Sampson has been Music Director at Brookside since 1981. Under his direction the choir has performed major works such as the Faure Requiem and Masses by Mozart and others as well as anthems from the Renaissance to today. A truly special occasion was the performance of David's own anthem Praise, commissioned for the church's centennial celebration. With the Minister and Organist, he also plans and organizes Special Music Sundays such as the one at which a new hymnal was introduced.
Although Brookside Church knows David Sampson as Music Director, trumpet soloist, church member and friend, he is better known in the wider world as a composer. As the annotator of the American Brass Quintet CD Premier! writes, "David Sampson has emerged as one of the truly unique voices of his generation achieving rapidly growing attention from major orchestras, soloists and ensembles." David has received major grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Jerome Foundation, Cary Trust, and the Dodge Foundation, among others. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, Hunter College, Manhattan School of Music, and the Ecoles d'Art Americaines.
His compositions have been recorded by the American Brass Quintet and trumpet virtuoso Raymond Mase; in 1999, Monument--an entire CD devoted to his work--was issued by Summit Records. David has served on the board of the Composers Guild of New Jersey, was an original member of the professional ensemble Solid Brass, and is currently Composer in Residence for the Colonial Symphony where, most recently, his Jersey Rain (set to poetry by Robert Pinsky) for baritone, chorus and orchestra premiered in May 2002.
Brookside Church also benefits from performances by David's wife, Christine Terhune, a violist with the New Jersey Symphony and active church member. Chris and David are the parents of two sons.