Born in Cork, Ireland, Sam McElroy gained an Honours Degree at the University of London in French (with Italian, German and Russian). His education in music began at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and continued under David Pollard and at the Bastille's Centre de Formation in Paris, for which he was awarded a scholarship by the Ian Flemming Charitable trust in 1996. In 1999, Sam McElroy represented the Republic of Ireland at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.
Sam made his debut at Opera Ireland the same year as Figaro (Barbiere di Seviglia), and has since returned as Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Yeletsky (Queen of Spades), the title role in Don Giovanni, as hero Harry Heegan in the Irish premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage's The Silver Tassie, a performance which won him international critical acclaim, and the Irish Times/ESB Award for Opera, Dandini (La Cenerentola), and as Stan Kowalski in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. At Opera Theatre Company in Dublin he has appeared as Blazes in The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell-Davies, Lockit (Beggar's Opera), and Nick Shadow (The Rake's Progress). In the UK Sam has appeared as Dandini with Opera Northern Ireland, English Touring Opera, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in an education-project adaptation for children, and as Malatesta (Don Pasquale) for Scottish Opera Go-Round.
His european debut came as Lescaut (Manon) at Opera Monte-Carlo under Mark Minkowski in a co-production with the Teatro alla Scala. At the Bastille, Opera National de Paris, he has appeared as Kuligin (Kat'a Kabanova), Vierte Knappe (Parsifal) and Le Mari in Offenbach's Le Mari a La Porte . At the Gothenburg Opera Tomsky (Queen of Spades), at the Teatro Cagliari in Sardinia Primo Barcolo (A Village Romeo and Juliet by Delius), at the Danish National Opera, Marcello (La Boheme), Silvio (I Pagliaci) and Prince Otokar (Der Freischutz), and at the Stadtstheater Wiesbaden Dandini (La Cenerentola). In festival operas he has sung Dandini (La Cenerentola) and the title role in Don Giovanni in Gattières, Nice and on the Île de la Réunion, as well as Ford (Falstaff) at the Montepulciano Festival in Tuscany under Enrique Mazzola. Sam was invited by Sir Harrison Birtwistle to create the principal baritone role, Man 1, in a world premiere of his new opera Io Passion, at both the Aldeburgh and Bregenz festivals.
Elsewhere, Sam has appeared at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, in recital programs of music by Schubert and Brahms, and has toured the USA from coast to coast with a Columbia Artists' production of Die Lustige Witwe, in the role of Danilo. On the concert platform there have been regular appearances with European orchestras such as the NSO of Ireland, the RTE Concert Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Århus Symphony, the Malmø Symphony and the Odense Symphony, in oratorios that include Messiah, Elijah, Mozart Requiem, and Vaughan-Williams's Donna Nobis Pacem.
Sam is an acclaimed recitalist, winning the highest praise from the distinguished mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender, at the 1999 BBC Cardiff Singer of The World for his interpretation of Schubert, and earning critical acclaim for his performances of Schubert's Winterreise in Copenhagen and Aarhus, and Finzi's Earth, Air and Rain with the Randers Kammerorkester. He has given three recitals at the Martha Argerich Festival in Lugano, including this performance of Schubert's Winterreise.
Married to the pianist and composer Gabriela Montero, Sam has diversified his professional portfolio, taking on the broad roles of executive producer and artistic director. The first album he executive produced - a recording of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto and Gabriela Montero's "Ex Patria" with Montero/Prieto/Orchestra of the Americas (Orchid Classics) - won the Latin Grammy® for Best Classical Album. The following album - Gabriela Montero's "Latin" Concerto with Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major with Montero/Prieto/Orchestra of the Americas (Orchid Classics) - also won international critical acclaim, and Sam executive produced a simultaneous television broadcast for ARTE TV of the album's live recording. He served as interlocutor for the Dean's Lecture at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute, entitled "What Choice Do I Have: Gabriela Montero discusses Classical Improvisation, Composition and Creative Dissent", and as on-screen contributor to the Discovery | Science Channel series on creativity and brain trauma, "Tormented by Genius". Co-founder of the Gabriela Montero Piano Lab, he currently serves as Artistic Director of the Gabriela Montero at Prager concert series in Easton, Maryland.