Interplay: Daniel E. Sampson and Natasha Talukdar

InterPlay, a joint venture of UMBC and the Peabody Institute, began in 2016 as a way to connect UMBC undergraduate music majors with Peabody graduate students for their mutual benefit. Since that time, the partnership has evolved to include an innovative, interactive performance in Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall, and a four-session teaching project, which to date have included master classes, chamber music coaching, audition preparation seminars and mock audition panels. For this performance, tenor Daniel E. Sampson will collaborate with pianist Natasha Talukdar.

Praised by the New Orleans Times-Picayune for his “strong and moving performance,” tenor Daniel E. Sampson is known for his inspired and expressive singing​.​ He sang the role of Monostatos in Loyola Opera’s The Magic Flute. A lover of musical theatre, he has recently been seen in productions of Big River and Godspell, as well as covering roles for the Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre.

Sampson has been a featured soloist for many churches in both Baltimore and New Orleans, including an appearance as the Tenor Soloist for Vivaldi’s Magnificat at New Orleans’ historic St. Louis Cathedral. He also sang with the New Orleans Opera Chorus for five seasons. In 2018, he will appear as the tenor soloist for Leonard Bernstein’s Mass with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with Peabody Conservatory. He has also had success as a music educator and director. He has taught middle school music and choir, served on music staffs at many churches, and has presented at the American Choral Directors Association Louisiana Chapter yearly conference.

Sampson received the bachelor of music education and voice from Loyola University New Orleans. He is currently pursuing the master of vocal performance and pedagogy from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studies with Stanley Cornett. He has previously studied with Janice Jackson and Dreux Montegut.

Natasha Talukdar is a collaborative pianist originally from Manila, Philippines. Before coming to Peabody Conservatory, Natasha made her solo debut at Carnegie Hall as a winner of the American Fine Arts Young Artists Competition. She was also named a winner of the World Journal Young Musicians Competition, and a finalist of the New York International Music Competition. She received her bachelor of music degree in piano performance and a BA in English literature from Binghamton University, where she studied with Joel Harder, Michael Salmirs, and Diane Richardson. During her time at BU, Natasha was active as an accompanist and chamber musician and received the Emily and Orville Nielson MD Scholarship for three consecutive years as well as being on the undergraduate music advisory committee.

In the summer of 2017, Natasha was one of the pianist interns/coach at the CoOPERAtive Program in Princeton, New Jersey, where she was awarded full scholarship in the operatic coaching program. In the summer of 2016, Natasha received a grant as one of twenty students to take part in the Summer Scholars and Artists program, where she undertook an apprenticeship in collaborative piano with Dr. Harder. Her project researched and focused on Schumann’s Dichterliebe, which she performed in October 2016. Talukdar is in her second year of her masters in vocal accompanying at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland. Talukdar holds an opera accompanying assistantship and has been the rehearsal pianist for Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Massanet’s Chérubin, Bernstein’s Mass and for Puccini’s Il Trittico in spring 2019. She is currently studying under Eileen Cornett.

Admission is free.