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The American baritone and composer, Sam Mullooly, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Illinois Wesleyan University in May 2016 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition (2012-2016). While a student at Illinois Wesleyan University, he studied composition with Dr. Mario Pelusi and Dr. David Vayo and music theory with Dr. Joseph Plazak. He was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society in 2015. He is currently at the Indians University Jacobs School of Music pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Theory (August 2021-May 2023), where he also has a position as an Associate Instructor in the Music Theory department.
Sam Mullooly is a versatile and accomplished musician. He is a self-published composer/songwriter. He has composed a number of large works, not the least of which was his first full-length opera, American Spring. This opera, set in the Spring of 1865, tells a story of Varina Davis, Mary Todd Lincoln, and an entire nation that must face the truth of their actions after a Civil War that tore them apart. The libretto was written by his father. A workshop performance of several scenes by Illinois Wesleyan’s opera theater class took place in April 2016. American Spring was nominated for the 2016 IWU Phi Beta Kappa award for outstanding work in the Liberal Arts and was selected to be part of IWU’s Ames Library collection of musical scores. It is featured in the 2016 volume of the online publication CrissCross: Journal of Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Work. The opera got its premiere in Milwaukee in August 2017 as a staged reading, with Mullooly self-producing the show and a cast from Milwaukee’s chapter of Opera on Tap. Both performances were sold out.
Other large works that Sam Mullooly has composed include A Balance (an electroacoustic piece), Requiem (a Requiem Mass setting for SATB choir), Symphony No. 1 (a String Orchestra Symphony), Missa de Profecto (an Ordinary Mass setting for SSATB choir), The Hunters and The Cat Bowl (two one-act operettas), and A Salient Name (a pop/neo-classical song cycle). He has also composed several stand-alone pieces for choir and various combinations of instrumental ensembles. His composition Before the Song Was Done for voice, cello, and piano was selected to be used for IWU’s annual e-Christmas card in 2012. His piano solo Nocturne in C Minor was awarded 3rd place in the WSMA high school state composition contest in 2012.
Being a true interdisciplinary and stylistically free musician, Sam Mullooly has not confined himself to the realm of concert music. He wrote the score for the play/musical The Fires of Nero, which premiered in Chicago, Illinois on Stage 773 in August 2018. He has done soundtrack and commercial writing for Schön Magazine’s promotional videos. He has since grown a fondness for songwriting, having released his first album "Beyond the Treehouse" in November 2017, and a second album "To Let an Essence Live" released in April 2019. His first professional release came in January 2021, with his EP "Songs of Absence" being released by the Milwaukee based label Sickle Moon Recordings.
Sam Mullooly has also done plenty of arrangements for choirs and instrumental ensembles. He was commissioned to arrange the Yellow River Concerto for Erhu, Violin, Viola, and Cello as part of Illinois Wesleyan’s outreach program and collaboration with music universities in China. He has also arranged rock and pop music for a cappella vocal groups, as well as sacred music for various church choirs.
As a vocalist, Sam Mullooly is a bass-baritone who has a knack for performing opera, oratorio, and German lieder. He studied voice with Dr. William Hudson while at Illinois Wesleyan University. His previous opera roles include Dr. Falke in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus and Ottone in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea. He has also performed as the bass soloist in J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion (BWV 244), George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noel. He also loves to sing early music. As the Co-President of the Illinois Wesleyan Consort ensemble, he performed as a soloist and organized small ensembles to perform a variety of Medieval and Renaissance choral works. From 2018 to 2021, he was a member of Milwaukee’s leading early music vocal ensemble Aperi Animam, where he also served as Vice President for a year.
From 2015 to 2020, Sam Mullooly worked as a choral editor at Hal Leonard, the largest music publishing company in the world. He was the editor and production manager for both the Shawnee Press school division and the Henry Leck Creating Artistry series. On the side, he founded a music review blog titled Album Analysis in which he reviews and critiques new albums based on an original method. Although not currently an active blog, you may read his archived reviews here. |
