String Orchestra | Kile Smith • composer

Jubilate Deo, for string orchestra

by Kile Smith | Jan 18, 2020 | new music, Orchestral Music, String Orchestra

Jubilate Deo, for string orchestra. 2020, 5’30”. Premiered 17 Dec 2022 by the strings of the Temple University Music Preparatory Division, Temple University Performing Arts Center, Aaron Picht conducting. This is a transcription for string orchestra of my...

American Romantics 2: Bird, Chadwick, and Foote

by Kile Smith | Apr 30, 2018 | American music, Classical music, Fleisher Collection, String Orchestra, WRTI

We keep one composer and swap out two from last month’s American Romantics program on Discoveries from the Fleisher Collection. The two new composers are two Arthurs—Bird and Foote—and we’ll hear music they first wrote for other purposes. Arthur Foote’s Theme and...

The Strange Genius of the Adagio for Strings

by Kile Smith | Nov 2, 2015 | Classical music, Orchestral Music, String Orchestra, String Quartet, WRTI Arts Desk

[First published in WRTI’s Arts Desk 2 Nov 2015] Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings didn’t start out the way we know it now. In this feature for WRTI, I look at the inescapable strangeness of this work that is now one of the most heard and most moving pieces in the...

The Red Book of Montserrat premieres at Kimmel

by Kile Smith | May 17, 2013 | Dance Music, Early Music, New Compositions, new music, Orchestral Music, String Orchestra

I could hardly have been happier at the premiere of The Red Book of Montserrat last night at the Perelman Theater in the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia. This newest string orchestra work is a 20-minute suite commissioned by the Philadelphia Sinfonia, Gary White, music...

Thrilling to hear Three Dances in its new version for strings

by Kile Smith | May 13, 2013 | new music, Orchestral Music, String Orchestra

On Saturday, May 11th, Aaron Picht conducted the Temple University Music Preparatory Division Youth Chamber Orchestra in the premiere of the new version of my Three Dances. It was the closing concert of the Festival of Young Musicians, held at the Church of the Holy...

Premiere of new Three Dances

by Kile Smith | May 11, 2013 | new music, Orchestral Music, String Orchestra

I’m looking forward to the premiere of the new version of my Three Dances tonight. Aaron Picht conducts the Temple University Music Preparatory Division Youth Chamber Orchestra at the Festival of Young Musicians, Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square,...

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News

3 Oct. Jerusalem from The Arc in the Sky. Utah Valley University Chamber Choir, Reed Criddle, UVU Norda Center, Orem, UT

7 Oct. Jerusalem from The Arc in the Sky. Utah Valley University Chamber Choir, Reed Criddle, Utah All-State Choir Concert, Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake City

PREMIERE 14 Oct. Sometimes It Happens So. Benjamin Flanders, baritone, Sonya Szabo Reynolds, piano. ChamberPalooza, Cincinnati Art Museum

15 Oct. A Child’s Afternoon and There’s a Land Beyond the River. Anna K. Meyer, flute; Erik Meyer, organ. Church of the Covenant, Cleveland

16 Oct. Jubilate Deo, for string orchestra. Armstrong High School (MN), Kevin Martin

28 Oct. “Why did they all shout” from The Arc in the Sky. University of Michigan Chorale, Sandra Snow, East Lansing, MI

5 Nov. PREMIERE. Franklinville-Schwarzwald Männerchor Sängergruß. Jacqueline Smith. Vereinigung Erzgebirge, Warminster, PA

9 Nov. There’s a Land Beyond the River. Megan Carroll, flute, Graeme Burgan piano. Trinity Orthodox Presbyterian, Hatboro, PA

13 Nov. Jubilate Deo, for string orchestra. Robbinsdale Area All-District Festival, Kevin Martin, Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis

27 Nov. RELEASED Christmas and Magic, solo version, digital release, Andy Cooney. Duet version, released in Ireland, Andy Cooney and Deirdre Masterson

1 Dec. Red-tail and Hummingbird (brass sextet version). Blair Bollinger, Curtis Institute, Philadelphia

2 Dec. Jerusalem from The Arc in the Sky. Utah Valley University Chamber Choir, Reed Criddle, UVU Norda Center, Orem, UT

3 Dec. “How Fair the Bright and Morning Star” (Wie schön leuchtet) from Vespers. St. Mary’s Episcopal, Richmond, VA, Ryan Tibbetts

3 Dec. Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow. Blue Ridge Singers, Jeffrey Alban, First Baptist, Winchester VA

8 Dec. Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow. Blue Ridge Singers, Jeffrey Alban, Front Royal Presbyterian, Front Royal VA

10 Dec. Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow. Blue Ridge Singers, Jeffrey Alban, Trinity Episcopal, Upperville VA

17 Dec. Red-tail and Hummingbird (brass sextet version). Curtis Institute Brass, Bravo Brass Concert, St. Mary’s Episcopal, Burlington, NJ

21 Dec. “How Fair the Bright and Morning Star” (Wie schön leuchtet) from Vespers. New version for SATB, organ. Transept, Timothy Campbell, Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, SD

21 Dec. Red-tail and Hummingbird (brass sextet version). Blair Bollinger, Curtis Institute Brass, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, Chicago

20 Jan. Jubilate Deo, for string orchestra. Carroll County (MD) All-County Orchestra, Sheldon Bair

PREMIERE 10, 11 May 2024. Wireless. Chor Leoni, Erick Lichte

27 Jun 2024. TBD. The Crossing, Donald Nally, Month of Moderns 2, Awbury Arboretum, Germantown, Philadelphia

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.