A native of Natick, Massachusetts, Sam Thurston is a freelance trumpet player & educator who leads a rich and varied career. Sam has performed as a soloist with the Grammy-nominated A Far Cry Orchestra, and he regularly performs with orchestras and brass quintets throughout New England. Sam maintains a busy freelance schedule with orchestras including the Cape Symphony, Portland Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, New Bedford Symphony, Vista Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, and the Lexington Symphony. Sam was most recently selected as a finalist for the third trumpet position with the Cape Symphony Orchestra, and a semi-finalist for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the United States Navy Band. Sam has also recorded as a soloist with the East Coast Scoring Orchestra and played on the Mannheim Steamroller National Tour. 

Sam completed his undergraduate studies in trumpet performance and music education at Ithaca College in 2013 and earned his master’s degree in trumpet performance from the New England Conservatory in 2016. Outside of performing music, Sam is also an extremely active music educator.  In addition to serving as Music Director for the Plainville Public Schools, he runs the instrumental lesson programs for both the Natick and Ashland Public Schools. Sam enjoys running his own private trumpet studio, as well as teaching trumpet for the Natick Public Schools and the St. Mark’s School.