Sam Himes
Sam Himes is a music educator and professional musician based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. After graduating from Timber Creek High School in 2017, Sam pursued degrees in Music Education and French Horn Performance form the University of Michigan where he performed with the Symphony Band, Concert Band, Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Aurora Winds Woodwind Quintet. In 2024, he received a Master's degree in Horn Performance from the University of North Texas where he held a Graduate Teaching Assistant position with the Center Woodwind Quintet and performed with the UNT Wind Symphony, Concert Orchestra, and Horn Octet. Sam had the honor of performing with the Center Woodwind Quintet at a nationally competitive level. The chamber group was recognized as a Quarterfinalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and a Finalist at the Coltman and MTNA chamber music competitions. Sam has performed in numerous festivals and conferences, including the International Lyric Academy, Ohio Light Opera, Chautauqua Institution, Texas Music Educators Association, Mid-South Horn Workshop, and is now an active freelance musician in the DFW area. He has performed with the Dallas Winds, Richardson Symphony, Allen Philharmonic, San Angelo Symphony, Irving Symphony, and has participated in many other local performances. Sam's primary horn teachers include Karen Houghton, Adam Unsworth, Bryan Kennedy, Stacie Mickens, and Katie McBain.
When he isn't teaching or performing, Sam enjoys pursuing creative endeavors in arranging, composing, mixing, mastering, and video editing. His horn ensemble arrangements have been performed by horn ensembles at the University of North Texas, University of Texas at Austin, and Marcus High School. He has also accumulated over 56,000 followers on social media by posting covers of popular songs that arranges, mixes, masters, and edits himself (@samthehorn on TikTok, @samhimeshorn on Instagram). Sam is especially proud of his compositions for Horn and Fixed Media, which have been performed at the University of North Texas and the Cormont Horn Camp. In his free time, Sam enjoys losing to his friends playing Pickleball and he loves to travel, collecting stickers and keychains from souvenir shops worldwide.