|
I met Sam (when he was Sammy) at Coral Way Elementary School. We were so proud when as a senior at Gables, he was nominated and won the Silver Knight Award for music. An extraordinary gentleman taken much too soon. According to his Wiki page: Piliafian participated in the National Music Camp in Interlochen, MI and was the second tuba player to win the concerto competition. Via his performance at Interlochen, he was awarded scholarships to study at both Dartmouth College and the Tanglewood Music Center. Leonard Bernstein chose Pilafian to perform in the world premier of Bernstein's Mass at the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He earned his bachelor's degree in music at the University of Miami in 1972. Since then, Pilafian performed numerous times in international concerts and recordings.[2] He founded the Empire Brass and performed in the Broadway Musicals Doctor Jazz and Much Ado About Nothing. Pilafian was also active in the jazz scene, having played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and, since 1991, in the duo Travelin' Light with guitarist Frank Vignola. With the saxophonist Scott Zimmer, Pilafian also played the music of Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartók, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, and Captain Beefheart. Pilafian also participated in a Pink Floyd recording. Pilafian started teaching at Arizona State University in 1994 and later at North Dakota State University in 2017.
Shelley Epstein https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/obituaries/sam-pilafian-dead.html
|
Clayton Brasington
I met Sam in the Coral Gables HS Band of which I was a member. He was a wonderful guy and amazingly talented. I will never forget his rendition of "The Flight of the Bumble Bee" on the Tuba! Talk about impossible - but I heard it with my own ears and watched him do it. I was deeply moved to hear of his passing. He was one of those friends I always wanted to re-connect with. Rest in peace dear friend. I look forward to re-uniting with you in heaven one day.
Edward Birmingham (Birmingham)
I went to junior high, Shenandoah, with Sam. He won best student of the year the year we graduated. I would see Sam at Gables all the time and I was in a class with him my first year at the U of M. Sam and I would sit next to each other and talk. Anyway one day he said watch Ed Sullivan I will be on Sunday night, And sure enpugh there was Sam playing his tuba in the Dixieland band he played at on weekends in Miami Beach to make extra money, Later that year Sam said watch again and again Sullivan had that Dixeiland band on. Yes Sam did great things with that tuba and played all kinds of music. But 2 performances on Sullivan as a freshman in college. That is really outstanding.