Theatre director, lyricist and translator of opera libretti as well as a composer, orchestrator and musical director, Jeremy Sams is the ultimate polymath. Born in 1957, Jeremy studied Music French and German at Magdalene College, Cambridge and Piano at the Guildhall School of Music. Early on he worked as a freelance pianist and coach, giving frequent recitals and tours and doing stints as a repetiteur at opera houses in Brussels and Ankara.
Directorial credits include Michael Frayn’s Noises Off (West End and Broadway); Spend Spend Spend (West End and national tour); Two Pianos, Four Hands (Birminghm Rep and West End); The Wind in the Willows (Old Vic); Maria Friedman – By Special Arrangement (Donmar Warehouse and West End); and Wild Oats and Marat Sade (Royal National Theatre).
Jeremy’s many translations include Mozart’s Figaro’s Wedding, La Boheme, The Magic Flute and Wagner’s The Ring Cycle (ENO); The Merry Widow (Covent Garden); and Les Parents Terribles, The Miser and Mary Stuart (Royal National Theatre).
Jeremy Sams created the stage adaptation of the immensely successful production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, currently showing at London’s Palladium Theatre. Most recently he adapted the hugely successful TV series Little Britain for the stage.
Jeremy’s composing credits include the BBC film of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, for which he won a BAFTA award for ‘Best Music’. Most recently he composed the score for Roger Michell’s screen adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love – winning the 2005 Ivor Novello Award for ‘Best Score for a Feature Film’. In 2002 he created a jazz-style score for the same director’s highly acclaimed feature The Mother, scripted by Hanif Kureishi and starring Anne Reid and Daniel Craig, which won the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes the following year. Jeremy’s television credits include Initial Film & TV’s Have Your Cake and Eat It.
Aside from the film, television and radio credits listed overleaf, Jeremy has written, arranged and directed music for around 50 theatre productions, including The Wind in the Willows and Arcadia (RNT) and The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC).
