Meet Samuel
Samuel is currently Organist at the American Church (7th arrondissement, Paris), as well as Professor of Classical and Jazz Piano at the Ecole de musique in Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt. Gaskin won the 1st prize in improvisation in the 2023 St. Albans International Organ Competition and received the 2nd prize in the 2021 American Guild of Organists’ (AGO) National Competition of Organ Improvisation. He was also a semi-finalist in the 2024 Canadian International Organ Competition, taking place in Montreal in October 2024. As a composer and arranger, his recent premieres include “While I Wait,” for mezzo-soprano and piano, “Chase,” for the Nois Saxophone Quartet, and an organ accompaniment of César Franck’s Sonata in A major for violin. Following his studies with Jesse Eschbach at the University of North Texas, Samuel received a 2022-23 Fulbright grant to France, where he finished two Artist’s Diplomas: in organ with Jean-Baptiste Robin and in jazz studies with Sylvain Beuf at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Versailles.