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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At a glance

5 Sep. Preisend mit viel schönen Reden, arr. TTBB. Franklinville-Schwarzwald Männerchor, Jacqueline Smith. Cannstatter Volksfest-Verein 150th Anniversary Oktoberfest, Philadelphia

11 Sep. Go Forth into the World in Peace. Knox Church, Cincinnati, Earl Rivers

18 Sep. There’s a Land Beyond the River. Premiere. Doris Hall-Gulati, clarinet, and string quartet. Music Transforms concert, Wayne (PA) Presbyterian

1 Oct. April Showers. Calliope’s Call, Marblehead, MA

2 Oct. April Showers. Calliope’s Call, Boston

2 Oct. The Arc in the Sky. Riga Project Choir, Christopher Walsh Sinka. Dole Folk Center, Riga

8 Oct. The Arc in the Sky. Riga Project Choir, Christopher Walsh Sinka. National Library of Latvia, Riga

9 Oct. The Arc in the Sky. Riga Project Choir, Christopher Walsh Sinka. Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Daugavpils

19 Oct. Finished Christmas and Magic, with Roy Powell, voice and piano

20 Oct. “Thou mayst know, if thou wilt notice” from The Consolation of Apollo. Western Illinois University Singers, Brian Winnie, Macomb, IL

21 Oct. Finished Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord, brass quartet and organ

22 Oct. Jubilate Deo, for chamber orchestra. Premiere. Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra, Sheldon Bair.

31 Oct. Mazurka. Tom Clippinger, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA

1 Nov. “I Drove and Got Them” essay published in Broad Street Review

1 Nov. Mazurka. Tom Clippinger, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA

13 Nov. Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord, brass quartet and organ. Installation of the Rev. Dr. Maurice Y. Lee, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Abington, PA

17 Nov. The Consolation of Apollo. New England Conservatory Symphonic Choir, Erica Washburn

2 Dec. Christmas and Magic. Evangelia Leontis, soprano, Megan Roth, mezzo-soprano, Julia Carey, piano, Calliope’s Call, Boston. Premiere, duet version.

3 Dec. The Consolation of Apollo. The LOTUS Project, Alicia Brozovich. NJ State Museum Planetarium, Trenton, NJ

17 Dec. Jubilate Deo, for string orchestra. Premiere. Temple University Prep Annual Concert, Aaron Picht, Temple Performing Arts Center

22 Feb. Monstra te essem matrem (SSA, harp) from Ave Maris Stella. iSing Girlchoir, Jennah Delp, ACDA National Conference, Cincinnati

13 Mar. Nirakar, excerpts from the opera. Erica Schuller, Bella Voce. Woman’s Athletic Club Ballroom, Chicago

18 Mar. Susquehanna. Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra, Sheldon Bair, Bel Air, MD

5 May. In the Midst of Life. William Ferris Chorale, Chicago, Christopher Windle. Premiere. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Chicago, 7:30

7 May. In the Midst of Life. William Ferris Chorale, Chicago, Christopher Windle. Premiere. Wicker Park Lutheran, Chicago, 3:30

20 May. The Bremen Town Musicians. Salt Lake Symphony, Robert Baldwin

July. New Work. Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Joshua Habermann. Premiere

8 Jul. The Arc in the Sky. Reading Bach Choir, Daniel Mahoney, Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, England

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.