Sam is an experimental sound artist, composer and filmmaker.

His work takes the form of albums, films, opera, installations and live free improvisation.

Somewhere between song, sound sculpture, and phantom score, the varied terrain of Sam Genovese’s albums plays within the realm of electronic, computer, and new music, but precludes full subscription to any tradition.

A passion for film and the influence of European and experimental cinema is evident throughout all Genovese’s sound and video work, this perhaps no more evident than in his 2020 film and experimental electronic opera, Entanglementing. Whether or not visuals are provided, cinematic techniques and imagined narrative structures play at the heart of Genovese’s process, offering throughlines that guide both compositional decisions and the listening experience. 2014’s album Night Path explored pacing choices informed by the long take of Bela Tarr and Andrei Tarkovsky. 2021’s SKYMYTH imagines a ceremony of the ancients beginning at the foot of a holy mountain. Priestesses gather to ascend a peak where secret rites effect collective rebirth and open glittering paths to new futures. 

That this music rewards close listening at louder-than-usual volume is the Genovese mantra.  

Ambient, noise, pulse, rhythm, and orchestral passages are all at home in his music.

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Sam holds an MFA in Experimental Electronic Music and Recording from Mills College where he studied with Pauline Oliveros, Maggi Payne, Molly Holm, John Bischoff, Chris Brown, James Fei, Roscoe Mitchell.

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Sam serves on the Curatorial Committee for the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival.