Composer and pianist Sameer Ramchandran has performed throughout North America in ensembles and solo performances. Recent collaborations include Helix! New Music Ensemble and Encompass New Opera Theatre. He has provided music for on-line video branding content for a number of companies, including Voltage Studios, Proofpoint and Communities in Schools.
Combining the seemingly disparate elements of comedy and film noir, he provided the music for a pilot episode for the web series Pet Peeves that was produced for the Microsoft Network. He also has provided musical scores for independent and short films. Directors that he has worked with include Kiran Ramchandran, Erik Stolhanske and Vijay Mathew.
Past projects include the CD Roundabout with his jazz piano trio, released on Roverbird Recordings. About the CD, Jim Santella of Jazz Improv magazine proclaimed it a “stellar session” and that Ramchandran “delivers the music effortlessly.” Jerry D’Souza of All About Jazz wrote that “there are a lot of good things going on here” and that it was “time to sit up and take notice of this trio.” Jason Bivins of Cadence magazine described Ramchandran as “a young player bubbling with energy, whose largely lyrical ideas seem perfectly suited to his colleagues’ freedoms.”
His music has been heard in radio broadcasts across the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Australia. He has also had entire concert programs devoted to his chamber and vocal music. Sameer formed Roverbird Music to serve as an outlet for various musical ventures pertaining to jazz and new music. He is the winner of the Sherryll C. Corwin Metropolitan Theatres Awards in music composition for two consecutive years; the first year in the large ensemble category and the second year in the vocal category.
He is currently pursuing doctoral studies at Rutgers University. He received a Master of Arts degree in Music Composition from the University of California at Santa Barbara and he studied Music and English at Colgate University. Current research interests include jazz and popular music, human/computer interaction, music and narrative, film music, schema theory, partimento, the music of Olivier Messiaen and Schenkarian analysis. He is active as an educator, having led classes at both institutions where he pursued post graduate studies. He also maintains a private studio where he teaches piano to students of all ages and abilities.