Samuel Nordlund is an instructor of cello and chamber music coordinator at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, where he is also a cellist in the Samford Quartet. He frequently performs with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and String Theory Birmingham and has been a member of the Huntsville Symphony (AL), Kalamazoo Symphony (MI), and Illinois Philharmonic, among others. Samuel is Immediate Past-President of the Alabama Orchestra Association, teaches cello and orchestra at STEP (Suzuki) Birmingham, the Alabama School of Fine Arts, Samford Academy of the Arts, and the Samford Piano and Chamber Music Institute. He earned his DMA from The University of Alabama, MM from Northwestern University, and is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator, and performer.
Prior to moving to Alabama, Samuel was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and a substitute player with the Chicago and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras. He also served as Assistant Director of Performance Activities at the Music Institute of Chicago. For several summers, he taught cello and directed the Early Music Ensemble at the Lutheran Summer Music Festival. He is a previous Music Director of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestras of Central Alabama, and currently serves on their Board of Directors. Samuel and his violinist wife, Caroline, started the Encore Strings Birmingham Summer Academy in 2018. They have two gregarious children – Annelise, 8, and Henry, 2