Samuel Bill Samuel Bill studied conducting, piano and organ at the Bratislava State Conservatory in his native Slovakia. As an assistant conductor and while still a student he performed with and conducted the Conservatory Mixed Choir on tour throughout Slovakia, Europe and the United States. He was also a cofounder and assistant conductor of the St. Martin's Cathedral Choir in Bratislava, which he conducted for several radio and television broadcasts. After graduation from the conservatory, Mr. Bill entered the Bratislava Academy of Music where he specialized in orchestral conducting. After one year at the Academy he received an invitation and full scholarship to complete his Master's degree at Montclair State University in New Jersey, where he graduated with honors in 1997. While in New Jersey he was a rehearsal pianist and assistant to the conductor for TheatreFest, a professional equity theatre-in-residence at Montclair State University, as well as for other theatres in the Montclair area.

Samuel Bill

He further developed his conducting skills at the Juilliard School studying with Maestro Vincent LaSelva. Since 1997 he has been the associate conductor of the Montclair Chamber Ensemble under the direction of New York Philharmonic violinist Oscar Ravina. As a pianist he has collaborated with many members of the New York Philharmonic for the Ensemble's chamber music series. In 2001 he appeared with the Ensemble at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall as a conductor and pianist.

In 2002, Mr. Bill joined Shaker Mountain Opera in the Berkshires to conduct Donizetti’s Don Pasquale as well as various scenes on Shaker’s annual opera scenes program. He has returned to Shaker Mountain in 2003 to conduct Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and in 2004 to conduct Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Since the summer of 2004 he has been on the faculty of the Bethesda Summer Music Festival in Bethesda, Maryland and conducted Verdi’s La Traviata and Rigoletto and Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore as well as the musicals The Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music and The King and I. In the summer of 2005 he joined the faculty of the Amalfi Coast Music Festival and conducted Puccini’s Suor Angelica in the cities of Amalfi, Salerno and Minori.

In January of 2004 Mr. Bill completed his Doctoral studies in orchestral conducting at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC where he has been the conductor for The Medium, Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Old Maid and the Thief and the world premiere of The Libation Bearers, assistant conductor for La Traviata and assistant conductor and chorus master for the world premiere of Agamemnon.

In 2006 Mr. Bill made his debut with New York's Dicapo Opera Theatre conducting Carrolle Singe - Dicapo's traditional Christmas program. He was then re-engaged as an assistant conductor for the American premiere of the Tobias Picker's chamber orchestra version of Therese Raquin. His 2007/2008 season at Dicapo will include Mozart's Impresario, Wargo's The Music Shop and Puccini's La Fanciulla del West.

Samuel Bill currently resides in New York with his wife, soprano Yvonne Bill.