Kristin Loretta Barone-Samadi, a pianist and music instructor, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1984. She was introduced to classical music and received her first piano lessons when she was 5, by her father, an amateur pianist. She started her formal training at Wagner College of New York City, at the age of 10. Kristin received her BA in Performance in 2006 from Adelphi University. Graduating cum laude, she was the recipient of the James Gould Award for Excellence in Music. While at Adelphi, Kristin was among the featured performers at the college’s chamber music ensemble—playing at graduation recitals, choral performances, and opera workshops. Kristin received her Master's Degree in 2008 at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College CUNY, where she continued her studies in the Artist Diploma Program, in 2009. The Artist Diploma Program was designed for the advanced study of chamber music. Kristin has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. Participating in a series of masterclasses overseen by cellist Kalin Ivanov and pianist Tamara Puddabnaya, Kristin then joined them in travels through Eastern Europe resulting in a final signature concert in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 2008.

Kristin performed with the Adelphi Symphony Orchestra from 2005 to 2008 where she was a featured soloist. She also performed at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in December of 2005. Among Kristin’s fondest recollections are three specific performances: Frank's Symphonic Variations, Rachmaninoff’s Suite No.2 for Two Pianos, and Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. Most recently, she has been interviewed and featured, a few times, by WXEW104 FM Riverwest Radio.

In addition to her academic and performance career, Kristin has served as music director at various churches in the New York metropolitan area including Rutherford Congregational Church (2010-2015), St. John's Lutheran Church (2015-2020), and most recently St. Joseph's Episcopal Church during 2020 before relocating to England. Her first position in a church setting was at Christ's First Presbyterian Church where she studied with the late David Smith and took on his position after his passing. This led to an abiding interest in sacred music and from there Kristin went on to study the pipe organ with David Enlow of Juilliard as well as Peggy Hsiao of First Presbyterian Church.

In collaboration with flutist, Linda Wetherill, Kristin has unveiled new works by contemporary composers, recording and performing them at the “Counterpoint Italy Composition Competition”—an international music festival founded by Ms. Wetherill in 2007. Kristin was the staff accompanist of the Young People's Chorus of NYC in 2011. Having a deep enthusiasm for the music of the Renaissance, Kristin became a keen collaborator with guitarist/lutenist, Daniel Keene—the two of them perform regularly as the Samadi-Keene Duo (formerly, The Barone-Keene Duo).

Kristin and her husband, composer Saman Samadi, have created and organized an international composition competition known simply as “Samadis'.” This festival concluded with a successful winners' concert in March of 2016 and published a record album. The two also operated a record label known as Samadis', from 2014 to 2018.

Kristin enjoys a successful teaching career—she has been a faculty member of the Brooklyn Music House, The Piano School of NYC, Long Beach Music, Oceanside Music, and Adelphi University—she also manages her own private studio. Kristin taught as an adjunct professor at Adelphi University, teaching courses, there, in Basic Keyboard Skills as well as Form and Analysis. Kristin is a strong advocate of the training programs of Madeline Bruser (author of “The Art of Practicing”), applying this method in her teaching philosophy—having discovered its utility and value as a faculty member during the Sound of Manhattan Music Festival 2018—while teaching several masterclasses and judging the competition there—Kristin saw tangible results in this method and uses it today.

During 2018-19, Kristin collaborated with Blanca Cecilia-Gonzalez (violin) and Asuka Elias (clarinet) and performed as Trio de Reínas, in New York. Kristin began collaborating with clarinetist Medina and violist Laura Thompson in late 2019 and had a few live performances before the pandemic. Since then, they have been collaborating at long distances. The trio published a recording of Schumann's Märchenerzählungen in the Spring of 2021. Persephone Trio collaborated in a remote recital at Wolfson College of Cambridge University in May 2021.  During the covid-19 pandemic, Kristin has had a chance to record, so far, 56 piano pieces. American composer Edward Hines has also commissioned her to record Akask for Piano, a collection of compositions based on Turkish folkloric dances, which was released on October 1st, 2021.

Most recently, Kristin has been collaborating with Greek pianist Flora Tzanetaki, and Spanish cellist Iris Azquinezer. Their performances were well received at the Buckingham Chamber Music Festival, King's Ely, Lee Hall of Wolfson College, Robinson College Chapel, Christ’s College, and Clare College, University of Cambridge. 

Kristin Samadi is on the faculty at St John's College School, and Abbey College, Cambridge, where she teaches piano. Kristin is a mother of two and currently lives in Cambridge, England.

New Album

Saman Samadi: Thus Spoke Earth
released May 26, 2023

Vāyuvēra:
Junya Makino, violin
Nicholas Swett, cello
Kristin Barone-Samadi, piano 

Shattering in Seven Pieces for Dream and Wedding and Death:
Saman Samadi, violin I
Junya Makino, violin II
Polly Almond, viola
Sarah Henderson, cello 

Thus Spoke Earth:
Saman Samadi, violin
Kristin Barone-Samadi, piano 

On this episode of Active Culture, we "Engage in The Lively Art of Conversation" with pianist extraordinairé Kristin Brone-Samadi. Kristin discusses the prodigious amount of music that she has produced & recorded during the pandemic lockdown, and the spring 2021 release of an album of music from before and during the Coronavirus quarantine. Kristin gives us a brief taste of what to expect and she performs compositions by Bach, Schumann and Rachmaninoff. River West Radio WXRW 104.1fm (2021)