by Kile Smith | May 22, 2018 | Choral music, Jazz, new music, Spirituality
2020 Grammy nomination, Best Choral Performance, The Crossing. Text by Robert Lax. Music by Kile Smith. SATB, unaccompanied. Duration, 65 minutes. Commissioned for The Crossing, Donald Nally, conductor. Premiered June 30th, 2018, at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut...
by Kile Smith | Feb 15, 2018 | Choral music, Spirituality
[George Case and Boston Cecilia asked me to contribute to their blog in the run-up to their 11 Mar 2018 concert of Canticle. This is what I wrote, slightly edited.] Saints bless the world, even when the world doesn’t know it. Saints who write, though, speak to the...
by Kile Smith | Apr 29, 2016 | Choral music, new music, Spirituality
Before Wednesday’s rehearsal of Canticle the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati and Craig Hella Johnson brought in a special guest to speak to the musicians and a few friends of the group. VAE invited Gillian Ahlgren to speak to us about St. John of the Cross and St....
by Kile Smith | Apr 21, 2016 | Choral music, new music, Spirituality
Canticle. Commissioned by the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, Craig Hella Johnson, Music Director. SATB, 3 cellos, 1 percussionist playing vibraphone, bass drum, tambourine. 65′. See the score. Additional notes written for the Boston Cecilia performance. See...
by Kile Smith | Apr 17, 2016 | Anthem, Art songs, Choral music, church music, Spirituality
What a great three days I enjoyed in Illinois as the guest composer for the 32nd annual Greenville College Schoenhals Fine Arts Symposium. A Thursday night concert and a Friday morning college chapel performance of seven pieces wove around seven classes, a composer...
by Kile Smith | Mar 12, 2016 | Choral music, church music, New Compositions, Spirituality
Out of the Depths. Text: Psalm 130. SATB, 6-1/2′. Commissioned by Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, Bryn Mawr, Pa., Jeffrey Brillhart, music director. Premiered 13 March 2016. There are qualities in Anton Bruckner’s music that inspired both this setting of Psalm...
