James Sample (conductor)

In this capacity he led the premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s choral and orchestral setting of The Star-Spangled Banner on October 14, 1941 at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles featuring the WPA Orchestra, Los Angeles Oratorio Society, and the WPA Negro Chorus.

Beginning in 1942, he served as an assistant to Canadian conductor Wilfrid Pelletier at the Metropolitan Opera.

He was the associate conductor for the San Francisco Symphony transcontinental tour led by Pierre Monteux in 1947.

He was conducting their Hollywood Bowl Orchestra auditions when he was selected to be the conductor of the Oregon Symphony.

He retired from conducting in 1982 to devote his time to composition and coaching advanced vocal students.

Her father was Earnest Andersson, a polymath and self-taught composer whose music Sample championed.