Samuel Zyman, a distinguished composer based in New York and a long-standing faculty member at Juilliard, is recognized as one of the foremost Mexican composers on the global stage today. His Suite for Two Cellos was performed by renowned cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Carlos Prieto during two sold-out concerts on June 11 and 12, 2007, at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City. The suite was described by Pablo Espinosa of La Jornada as "a feast for the senses," noting that the fifth movement was "a musical edifice full of magic, fantasy, and sonorous mathematics." Xavier Quirarte of Milenio remarked on Zyman's contemporary style, stating that he "incorporates the legacy of other epochs," creating a dialogue between instruments that feels like a conversation among friends. Zyman's compositions are characterized by their vigorous rhythmic energy, expressive lyricism, and the frequent inclusion of near-jazzy imitative counterpoint. Allan Kozinn of The New York Times noted the interplay of Impressionism and jazz in Zyman's piano piece, Two Motions in One Movement, describing it as "vines winding around each other." His music often features not just rhythmic vitality and melodic inventiveness, but also a clear structural conception and an intriguing blend of Jewish and Latin American influences. Punch Shaw from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram highlighted a recent performance of Zyman's piano trio, Search, saying it was "compelling from start to finish" and successfully achieved the composer's goals.

Among Zyman's recent highlights is the world premiere of Cycles for symphonic winds, which took place in Alice Tully Hall, New York, in March 2005. This piece was performed by the Illinois State University Wind Symphony under the direction of Stephen K. Steele, alongside works by David Maslanka and Matthew Halper. A CD featuring this program has been released by Albany Records. In June 2005, Zyman's Piano Concerto was performed by pianist Claudia Corona with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, conducted by José Guadalupe Flores, in Xalapa, Mexico. His third piano trio, Search, was commissioned by Texas Christian University (TCU) and premiered in March 2005 by the Feghali/Thompson/Castro-Balbi Trio at Carnegie Hall's Weill Concert Hall. This trio later performed Zyman's Triple Concerto for violin, cello, piano, and orchestra on April 28, 2006, in Fort Worth, with the TCU Symphony Orchestra under music director Germán Gutiérrez as part of TCU's Latin American Music Festival. During the festival, several of Zyman's works were showcased, including Cycles, Suite for Two Cellos, and Reflection for solo cello with an ensemble of seven cellos, featuring the TCU cello ensemble and soloist Jesús Castro-Balbi. The Mexican premiere of the Triple Concerto occurred in June 2006 at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, featuring soloists Manuel Lozano, Alain Durbecq, and Claudia Corona, with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico conducted by Enrique Diemecke. Additionally, Zyman's Sonata for Flute and Piano was performed by Ensemble Alma members, flutist Elena Yarritu and pianist Fabio Gardenal, in New York's Merkin Hall in June 2006.

In May 2006, Zyman served as a guest composer, mentor, and judge at the Fresh Ink 2006 Florida Composers Competition, where works by emerging composers were performed by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Fabio Mechetti. At the final concert, the first movement of Zyman's Symphony No. 2 was presented alongside the contestants' compositions. His orchestral work, Encuentros, characterized by its vibrant Mexican sound, was performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in Meyerson Symphony Hall under Germán Gutiérrez on June 2, 2006. Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News noted how Encuentros transitioned "from gentle shiftings of three- and two-note groupings to a lyric central section to an exuberant close."

Previously, Zyman's Suite for Two Cellos was performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Carlos Prieto on October 13, 2006, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey, Mexico. Critics Arnoldo Neiro and Gabriel Contreras of Milenio praised the suite for its Romantic expressiveness within a 20th-century context, calling it "a beautiful work that enriches the cello repertoire from Mexico."

Zyman's extensive body of work includes two symphonies, various orchestral pieces, several concertos, songs, a recent string quartet, and the original symphonic score for the acclaimed film The Other Conquest, directed by Salvador Carrasco. This score, recorded by the Academy of Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields under David Snell, features Zyman's aria "Mater Aeterna," performed by Plácido Domingo. His compositions are available on over 15 CDs released by Island Records, I.M.P. Masters, Urtext Digital Classics, Ambassador, Sony Classics, EMI, Quindecim, and Albany Records. Zyman's music, published by the Theodore Presser Company, has been performed across the United States, Mexico, Latin America, Europe, Russia, New Zealand, and beyond by prominent ensembles, including the American Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, and other major Mexican orchestras, as well as the National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina and the Paris Sinfonietta. His Sonata for Flute and Piano is particularly esteemed, frequently appearing in concert repertoires worldwide. Barry L. Cohen, writing for The New Music Connoisseur, commended the sonata for its "full excitement," especially praising its "incredible finale with its seemingly impossible accelerando," following a 2002 performance in New York by Copland House artists Paul Lustig Dunkel and Michael Boriskin.

Samuel Zyman was born in 1956 in Mexico City, where he pursued studies in piano and conducting at the National Conservatory of Music and composition under Mexican composer Humberto Hernández Medrano. He earned both a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from The Juilliard School in New York City, studying with notable American composers Stanley Wolfe, Roger Sessions, and David Diamond.