Violinist

Samantha Norman

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About Samantha

Samantha is a freelance violinist working all over the UK. She trained at Birmingham Conservatoire and performs at weddings and other events
Violinist
Sheringham
Public liability insurance of £10 million

Samantha is a freelance violinist classically trained at Birmingham Conservatoire to Masters level. She performs all year round at weddings, parties, ceilidhs and many other events. As well as a huge classical repertoire, Samantha performs modern pop songs on violin and can create a perfect setlist of your favourite artists and songs for your event. She is also a specialist in folk/gyspy/klezmer styles and plays regularly in these styles in other settings too. Samantha has a wide-ranging performing career, working with several orchestras and chamber groups and works regularly at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Since 2012 she has appeared in numerous productions and has often appeared on stage and in costume playing from memory. Some of these performances have been broadcast live to cinemas and subsequently released on DVD. Samantha was a founding member of seven-piece cinematic folk septet the Old Dance School, now know as the Fair Rain. With them she toured the UK and Europe in theatres, arts centres and festivals and released three studio albums and one live album. The band have won critical acclaim and have been featured several times on BBC Radio 2. She performed with them until 2015. Samantha has a busy freelance career combining events, theatre, orchestral and chamber work, session recording and also performing with ceilidh bands and folk groups.

Samantha
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5 out of 5
11 verified reviews
Satisfaction
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5.0
Professionalism
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5.0
Communication
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5.0
Punctuality
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5.0

Samantha's Reviews

From Encore customers:

CM
Charlotte M
3 months ago
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5 out of 5

Thank you to Samantha for performing at our wedding, your renditions were beautiful and brought a lovely atmosphere to the day. We had endless positive comments from our guests saying how great she was. Thank you for making our day extra special, a truly talented musician with high levels of customer service skills

PJ
Patrick J
4 months ago
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5 out of 5

Samantha did an amazing job at our outdoor ceremony and was very flexible with learning new songs. All of the guests loved the music! Would highly recommend Samantha!

LR
L R
4 months ago
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5 out of 5

We had the pleasure of having Samantha play at our wedding, June 2025. She was absolutely amazing! We and our guests thoroughly enjoyed every song and the calming atmosphere. Communication leading up to the day and during was superb. Highly recommend Samantha!

AH
Ashley H
9 months ago
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5 out of 5

Samantha stepped in for us last minute due to another musician letting us down. Via Encore Bookings, we spoke with Samantha and kindly she accepted to be our wedding violinist with only a few weeks’ notice. Samantha was fantastic with communication and learnt all our modern songs quickly as well as playing classical from her repertoire. Having previously played at the venue before (a regular at Thursford Christmas spectacular) my mind was put at rest requiring the quality of the performance along with videos on the website. Samantha even asked us what attire would be appropriate. Samantha played beautifully, using acoustic violin and using her own PA system for backing (PAT tested of course). We are so happy we found the talented Samantha who really added a level of class to our ceremony.

Reply from Samantha
9 months ago

Thanks so much Ashley and Megan for you lovely review! It was an absolute pleasure to play for your beautiful ceremony. You had a great selection of music choices for your ceremony and it was so enjoyable to play them for you and your guests. Thursford is a very special place and I hope you had a wonderful rest of your day in its amazing surroundings! Thanks so much and congratulations again. Samantha

Read all 8 reviews

From other customers:

JF
Jack F
6 years ago, for a Wedding in Warwickshire
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5 out of 5

Samantha played with a small group of musicians for our wedding in August 2019. She was so helpful and brilliant, and worked really well with the others (some of whom she had never met before) - and sounded excellent! Our guests loved the music too, and it really brought our church service to life - we can’t thank her enough!

HC
Helen C
6 years ago, for a Corporate event in Stratford-upon-Avon CV37
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5 out of 5

Samantha has played at several events I have managed at the Royal Shakespeare Company and has always been highly professional as well as an excellent musician. I would recommend her without hesitation

Read all 3 reviews
Encore badges
10 gigs
Experienced: 10 bookings through Encore
Saved the day!
Booked for an Encore gig with less than 24 hours’ notice
7th Anniversary
This act has been working with Encore for over 7 years

Samantha's Song list

Listed: Pop/Bridgerton/Disney, Classical, Folk
Pop/Bridgerton/Disney in alphabetical order:
1000 Years - Cristina Perri
ABCDEFU - Gayle
All My Life - KC and Jojo
All My Love - Coldplay
All Of Me - John Legend
All you Need Is Love - Beatles
Always - Bon Jovi
Angels - Robbie Williams
At Last - Etta James
A Whole New World - from Aladdin
Beautiful Crazy - Luke Coombs
Because You Loved Me - Celine Dion
Best Day of My Life - American Authors
Birds of a Feather - Billie Eilish
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
Breathe - Faith Hill
Bridgerton Main Theme
Budapest - George Ezra
Butterflies - Kacey Musgraves
Can You Feel The Love Tonight - Elton John
Can’t Help Falling In Love - Elvis
Cardigan - Taylor Swift
Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
City of Stars - from La La Land
Crazier - Taylor Swift
Dive - Olivia Dean
Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing - Aerosmith
Enchanted - Taylor Swift
Everything I do - Bryan Adams
Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac
Fields of Gold - Sting
Flowers - Miley Cyrus
Gold Only Knows - Beach Boys
Greatest Day - Take That
Halo - Beyonce
Here Comes the Sun - Beatles
Hey There Delilah - Plain White Ts
Ho Hey - Lumineers
Home - Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros
Hoppippolla - Sigur Ross
How Long Will I Love You - Ellie Goulding
I See The Light - from Tangled
I Want it That Way - Backstreet Boys
I’m Yours - Jason Mraz
If I Ain’t Got You - Alicia Keys
In My Blood - Shawn Mendes
Isn’t She Lovely - Stevie Wonder
Joker and the Queen - Ed Sheehan
Just the Way You Are - Bruno Mars
Kiss Me - Sixpence None the Richer
Kissing You - Des’ree
Let it Be - Beatles
Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding
Love Story - Taylor Swift
Lover - Taylor Swift
Lucky - Jason Mraz
Make You Feel My Love - Adele
Marry You - Bruno Mars
A Million Dreams - from The Greatest Showman
Moon River - Mancini
Mr Blue Sky - ELO
My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion
Ocean Eyes - Billie Eilish
One Day Like This - Elbow
Ordinary - Alex Warren
Our Song - Taylor Swift
Paper Rings - Taylor Swift
Paradise - Coldplay
Part of Your World - from The Little Mermaid
Perfect - Ed Sheehan
Pompeii - Bastille
Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits
Rule the World - Take That
Runaway - The Corrs
She’s the One - Robbie Williams
She’s Always a Woman - Billy Joel
Sign of the Time - Harry Styles
Signed Sealed Delivered - Stevie Wonder
Sky Full of Stars - Coldplay
Snow On The Beach - Taylor Swift
Something Just Like This - Coldplay
Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
Songbird- Eva Cassidy
Stand By Me - Ben E King
Stay With Me - Sam Smith
Strange - Celeste
Symphony - Clean Bandit
Tale As Old As Time - from Beauty and the Beast
Thank U Next - Ariana Grande
The Scientist - Coldplay
There She Goes - The Las
Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran
The Universal - Blur
Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden
Under The Sea - from The Little Mermaid
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
Wake Me Up - Avicii
We Don’t Talk About Bruno - from Encanto
Whatever - Oasis
Wildest Dreams - Taylor Swift
With or Without You - U2
Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
Wonderwall - Oasis
Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus
Yellow - Coldplay
You Are The Reason - Calum Scott
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift
You’re My Best Friend - Queen
You’re Still the One - Celine Dion
You’ve Got A Friend In Me - from Toy Story
Your Song - Elton John
Classical:
Pachelbel's Canon in D
Meditation from Thais - Massenet
Elgar Salut D'Amour
Elgar Chanson de Matin
Dvorak Humouresque
Boccherini Minuet
O mi Babbino Caro
Cavalleria Rusticana
Handel Aria from Xerxes
Handel Royal Fireworks
Handel Water Music
Schubert Serenade
Vivaldi Winter
Vivaldi Spring
Bach Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
Bach Arioso
Bach Air on the G String
Shostakovich Romance from the Gadfly
Mouret Rondeau
Purcell Trumpet Tune
Clarke Trumpet Voluntary
Ashokhan Farewell
Extensive Repertoire of Traditional music - Irish, Scottish, Klezmer
Odessa Bulgar
Rachenitsas
Wedding Waltz
Russian Sher
Dance of Delight
Scotland the Brave
Kesh Jig
Newlyweds Waltz
Si Bheag, Si Mhor
Lark in the Morning
She Moved Through the Fair
Atholl Highlanders
Rose in the Heather
Chief O Neills Favourite
The Banks Hornpipe
Mairi’s Wedding
Cock of the North
Haste to the Wedding
100 Pipers
Auld lang Syne
Masons Apron
Roxburgh Castle
Devil among the Tailors
Calliope House
The Teetotaller
Maid Behind the Bar
Lilting Fisherman
Foxhunters
King of the Fairies
Plus many more jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas - please ask as I have a huge repertoire of traditional tunes, too many to list!

Samantha's Prices

Last updated: 2025

Note: prices may vary based on travel distance. For an exact quote, click “Check availability”.

Standard Prices
DurationPrice
Short performance (up to 15 min)£212.50
Up to 1 hour£312.50
Up to 2 hours£437.50
Up to 3 hours£500
Packages
Wedding ceremony1 hour
This includes music before the service begins, music for the aisle entrance, music during the signing of the register, and music as guests leave.
£312.50
Wedding Ceremony plus Drinks reception2 hours
As listed above for Wedding Ceremony, plus 1-1.5 hours of drinks reception
£462.50
Three hour total booking3 hours
A three hour total booking to be used as you would like; for example Wedding ceremony plus two hours of drinks reception, or two hours of drinks reception plus one hour of evening meal
£500

Add-ons

Learning additional song requests
+£56.25
Customer questions

What do your clients love most about your performances?

"Thank you to Samantha for performing at our wedding, your renditions were beautiful and brought a lovely atmosphere to the day. We had endless positive comments from our guests saying how great she was. Thank you for making our day extra special, a truly talented musician with high levels of customer service skills" This was a lovely review from a recent c

Which venues have you performed at in the past?

I've performed at Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury Festival and many many others!

What if my timings change after I've booked you?

I can almost always be flexible with this and I understand timings can change! Keep me updated and I'll try to accommodate as best I can

How much time do you need to set up?

I normally perform acoustically and therefore don't need a lot of setting up time. I normally arrive at venues at least 45 minutes beforehand but my actual required setup time is much less than this

Can I pick the pieces you play from the set list?

Of course! Let me know what kind of styles you like and I can tailor my set list around your favourites

Do you bring all the equipment you need to perform?

I normally perform acoustically and therefore bring my instrument and all related equipment. If you'd like me to play outside I do need appropriate cover from the elements, but between yourself and the venue we can ascertain a suitable option!

Can you learn specific pieces before the event?

If you have special requests that aren't listed on my profile just let me know as I might have them, or I can arrange and learn them
Musicianship
Genres:
Classical, Classical crossover, Contemporary classical, Film / TV music, Musical theatre, Opera, World music, Balkan, Jewish music, Klezmer, Scottish music, Tango, Folk, Bluegrass, Ceillidh, Folk rock, Traditional English folk, Traditional Irish folk, Traditional Scottish folk
See all genres
Instruments:
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Event types:
Wedding, Wedding proposal, Hotel / Restaurant event, Bar / Club / Venue event, Private event, Corporate event, Concert, Recording session, Theatre / Show, Burns night, Birthday party, Christmas party, New Year's Eve
See all event types
Other skills:
Fluent sight-reader
See all skills