Classical music | Kile Smith • composer

Fleisher Discoveries: I’m Signing off … with my Symphony

by Kile Smith | Jun 3, 2024 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Orchestral Music, Podcast

Kile Smith (b. 1956). Symphony: Lumen ad revelationem (2002) Listen on SoundCloud Listen on Spotify For my final Fleisher Discoveries podcast, my Symphony. I’ve gotten so busy with composing that, as much as I love the podcast, I had to clear the decks. The Symphony...

Fleisher Discoveries: Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms

by Kile Smith | Apr 4, 2024 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971). Symphony of Psalms (1930) Listen on SoundCloud Listen on Spotify As success followed success, especially in the three ballets he wrote for the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, Stravinsky lived the life of a world-famous composer and pianist....

Fleisher Discoveries: The Pre-eminence of Marianne Martines

by Kile Smith | Mar 6, 2024 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast

Marianne Martines (1744–1812). Psalm 51 (1768) Martines. Symphony in C (1770) Listen on SoundCloud Listen on Spotify Metastasio, the leading playwright of the age, introduced her to everyone. She performed for the empress. She knew Mozart. And Haydn, who gave her...

Fleisher Discoveries: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at 100

by Kile Smith | Feb 1, 2024 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries

George Gershwin (1898–1937). Rhapsody in Blue (1924) Listen on SoundCloud Listen on Spotify George Gershwin is playing billiards and in walks brother Ira with a newspaper which says that George is writing a jazz concerto for a concert six weeks away. This was news to...

Fleisher Discoveries: Jackson Hill, Symphony No. 3

by Kile Smith | Nov 17, 2023 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, new music, Orchestral Music

Jackson Hill (b. 1941). Symphony No. 3 (1997) Listen on SoundCloud Listen on Spotify From Alabama and North Carolina, through Japanese court music, Buddhist chant, Oxford, and Renaissance polyphony, it is music from the center of Pennsylvania. Hi everybody, I’m Kile...

Fleisher Discoveries: Frank Bridge, Summer and The Sea

by Kile Smith | Jul 4, 2023 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast

Listen on SoundCloud Listen on Spotify It’s easy to tag Frank Bridge with the “British pastoral” label and leave it at that, but if we think about it, the language here is au courant, and not a little revolutionary. To pigeonhole Frank Bridge as some Edwardian...

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News

Complete Calendar here.

6 Jul. “Why Did They All Shout?” from The Arc in the Sky, Reading Bach Choir, Daniel Mahoney, Caversham, Reading, Great Britain

11 Jul. PREMIERE Arise, O Lord, Psalm 132 for SATB, org, 10′. Psalm Festival of the 2024 Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Institute for Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music, Seward, Nebraska, the Bellevue Singers and organist Jacob Weber, conducted by A.J. Reimer.

15 Jul. Interviewed with Jacqueline Smith on KFUO Radio The Coffee Hour with hosts Andy Bates and Sarah Gulseth

18 Oct. PREMIERE. Dark Is the Night and Green Is the Grass (Tumša nakte, zale zale). Riga Project Choir, Latvia, Christopher Walsh Sinka

3 Nov. The Bremen Town Musicians. Premiere Performances, Musical Fairytales, Hong Kong, Andrea Fessler, two performances

16 Nov. The Consolation of Apollo. Houston Chamber Chorale, Robert Simpson, St. Philip Presbyterian, Houston

7 Dec. The Consolation of Apollo. New version, with string orchestra. Plus PREMIERE of new Christmas carol. Bethlehem Bach Choir, Christopher Jackson

8 Dec. The Consolation of Apollo. New version, with string orchestra. Plus PREMIERE of new Christmas carol. Bethlehem Bach Choir, Christopher Jackson

15 Dec. Chorale Fantasias from Vespers. Ravenswood Community Orchestra, Eli Chen, Chicago

2025

28 Feb. PREMIERE. New 15′ Work. Choir and organ, on the life of St. Peter. Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Michael Plagerman

9 Mar. PREMIERE. Jubilate Deo for chorus and orchestra. Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra, Sheldon Bair, Bel Air, MD

14 Mar. PREMIERE. Endless Morn of Light. 20′, Sylvan Viol Consort, Variant Six. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia

15 Mar. Endless Morn of Light. Sylvan Viol Consort, Variant Six. First and Central Presbyterian, Wilmington, DE

16 Mar. Endless Morn of Light. Sylvan Viol Consort, Variant Six. Levering Mill Tribute House, Bala Cynwyd, PA

26 Apr. PREMIERE. Even the Grass Must Sing. 19′, The Choristers with orchestra, Lansdale, PA, David Spitko

Recent CDs

The Bremen Town Musicians. English Symphony Orchestra, Gemma Whelan, narrator, Kenneth Woods, conductor. Fiddles, Forests, and Fowl Fables.

The Arc in the Sky. The Crossing. 2020 Grammy nomination, Best Choral Performance

Canticle and Alleluia. Vocal Arts Ensemble. 2020 Grammy, Classical Producer of the Year, Blanton Alspaugh

In This Blue Room, other songs. Lyric Fest

A Child’s Afternoon. Fantasmagoria. Anna K. Meyer, flute, & Erik Meyer, organ

The Nobility of Women. Mélomanie

The Stars Shine, from The Consolation of Apollo. The Same Stream

Vespers. Piffaro, the Renaissance Band, and The Crossing

Where Flames a Word. The Crossing

Where Flames a Word. Voces Tallinn. 2020 Estonian Recording of the Year

Where Flames a Word. Khorikos

Where Flames a Word. Chicago Chamber Choir

Selected publications

The Star-Spangled Banner. SATB, piano, opt. cello, 5’30”. Hal Leonard

Alleluia. SATB, 6′. Hal Leonard

The Consolation of Apollo. SATB, perc, 35′. MusicSpoke

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. SATB, bells, 3′. Hal Leonard

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. SATB, org, 3′. Concordia.