Sam Nelson
Organist-Choirmaster
Organist, conductor, and arranger Sam Nelson is from the North Shore of Boston and held his first church organist position at age 12. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from Gordon College in 2011 under the tutelage of Roy Brunner and Douglas Marshall. In 2012, he won second prize at the Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival in Old Wethersfield, Connecticut. After continuing intensive private study with Marshall for six years post-grad, he completed a Master of Music degree at Boston University under the tutelage of Peter Sykes in 2018.
Sam has performed on most of the great organs and concert halls in the Northeast U.S., including Trinity Church, Wall Street; Middle Collegiate Church, East Village; Trinity Church, Copley Square; Church of the Covenant, Boston; Old South, Boston; Old West, Boston; All Saints, Ashmont; Methuen Memorial Music Hall; Park Street Church, Boston; Tremont Temple, Boston; Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts; Marsh Chapel at Boston University; Boston Symphony Hall; Carnegie Hall; Sykes Recital Hall, University of Tampa; Bethesda By-the-Sea, West Palm Beach (April 2024); St. Boniface Church, Siesta Key; and Christ Church, Bradenton.
Sam was the organist at Washington Street Baptist Church in Lynn, Massachusetts, from 2002 to 2013 and Music Director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, from 2013 to 2019. He also served as the Tour Manager and Organ Technician for Cameron Carpenter and the International Touring Organ.
Outside of music, Sam’s other passions include computers, technology, audio engineering, video games, DIY home improvement projects, keeping his 1980s Lincoln running, and raising his two young daughters.