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 9 May 2020 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

2020 GRAMMY Classical Producer of the Year, Blanton Alspaugh, Canticle, Vocal Arts Ensemble, Craig Hella Johnson

2020 Estonian Recording of the Year, A Birch in Winter CD with Where Flames a Word, Voces Tallinn, David Puderbaugh

5 Jul. Completed Go Forth into the World in Peace, for SATB and piano

10 Jul. Completed The Star-Spangled Banner, arr. from The Dawn’s Early Light, SATB, piano, cello, for Hal Leonard

11–18 Jul. The Consolation of Apollo. Portland State Chamber Choir, Ethan Sperry. 12th World Symposium on Choral Music, Auckland, New Zealand. COVID-19 canceled

28 Jul. Completed There’s a Land Beyond the River, voice and piano, for Craig Hella Johnson songbook project

17 Aug. Completed Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow, SATB, piano, for The Choral Arts Society of Washington

18 Sep. The Singing Guitar release, with The Dawn’s Early Light. Craig Hella Johnson conducts Conspirare, L.A. Guitar Quartet, cellist Douglas Harvey

22 Nov. Singing City Webinar Panel, 2:00, The Composer’s Craft in Choral Music, with Jeffrey Brillhart, Melissa Dunphy, Jay Fluellen

11–16 Dec. The Consolation of Apollo and The Waking Sun. Recording with The Crossing and Quicksilver

20 Dec. The Consolation of Apollo and The Waking Sun. The Crossing @ Christmas, Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia

Recent CDs

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

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. Khorikos

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

Where Flames a Word. Chicago Chamber Choir

Selected publications

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.