Biography
Nancy Samantha Headlee (aka “Sam”) has enjoyed a thirty-year career as performer and teacher of viola and violin in various places including Mexico, Louisiana, Colorado, Hawai’i and Florida.
She studied violin and viola performance at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore MD before joining the Orquesta Sinfonica de Jalapa (Mexico) as her first orchestral position.
Later she was a member of the Honolulu Symphony in Honolulu Hawai’i, during which time she taught many private students as a member of the staff at Punahou School (a private K-12.) Concurrently she was on faculty at the lolani School (also a K-12 in Honolulu), where she coached dozens of student chamber music ensembles.
After a move to St. Petersburg Florida, Sam joined the faculties at the Gibbs Magnet School for the Arts and the University of Tampa as a private teacher of violin and viola. During her years in the Tampa Bay area, Sam played a large number of long runs with various touring Broadway shows including Lion King and Phantom of the Opera.
During all her years away from Colorado Sam has returned every summer to perform as a member of the Central City Opera Orchestra in Central City, Colorado. She and her husband have now settled back in Boulder permanently. Sam enjoys teaching her lovely students at CMA as well as at her home studio in Boulder.
Over the years Sam has completed extensive training in the Suzuki method with William Starr and Ronda Cole. She enjoys teaching students at all levels whether they are young beginners or more advanced students who would like extra help mastering their orchestra music or preparing an audition for Youth Symphony. She has also taught many adult beginners – some of whom have become lifelong friends!
Sam is fairly fluent in conversational Spanish and looks for any opportunity to practice with native speakers. She has recently become involved with a puppy trainers club in Boulder which trains puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. She is an avid cook and baker, loves gardening and is an amateur artist