Chris Lam Sam

Chris Lam Sam is a New Zealand children’s songwriter, educator and performer whose work brings music, storytelling and participation to young audiences across Aotearoa.

Known for combining creativity with education, his songs invite children and families to sing, imagine and discover music together.

Chris is the full-time Music Education Animateur for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, where he creates concerts, workshops and classroom experiences that introduce tens of thousands of young people to orchestral music each year. Through these programmes he helps children across the country discover the magic of music through storytelling, participation and live performance.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Music in composition and a primary school teaching qualification. He began performing children’s music in 2003, co-founding the family band The Funky Monkeys. Over seven years the group performed more than 900 shows, reaching audiences of over 1.7 million people and becoming a beloved part of New Zealand’s family entertainment scene.

Chris has also created music for stage, screen and live performance. He was Musical Director for 175 of the combined-schools choir show Kids for Kids over eleven years, he performed more than 650 musical well-being shows with mascot Sailor the Pufferfish for the NZ Asthma & Respiratory Foundation, and has collaborated with the NZSO, Royal NZ Ballet and NZ String Quartet since 2016 to create engaging musical experiences for children.

Chris is also the creative mind behind the Silly Funny Songs for Kids song-series, which includes animated music videos such as the award-winning Song About Nothing. As a published author, his book Chris co-wrote Inspector Brunswick: Case of the Missing Eyebrow, released by the UK’s TATE Museum, was recognised with a Storylines Notable Book Award.

Some of Chris’s recent work combines music with environmental storytelling. His collaboration with Young Ocean Explorers on their Let’s Love Our Sea song and music video encourages young people to care for the planet through music, while his 2025 collaboration with visual artist Marcus Winter (The Sandman), composer Dr Jeremy Mayall and the NZSO became their popular schools’ concert Ngā Tohu o te Taiao / The Signs of Nature.

Collaborations & Creative Projects

Chris regularly collaborates with performers, musicians and creators across children’s entertainment, music and media in Australasia, the UK and the USA.