Vocal music | Kile Smith • composer

Sometimes It Happens So

by Kile Smith | Mar 11, 2022 | Art songs, new music, Vocal music

Sometimes It Happens So. 2022. Five-song cycle for baritone, piano, 18′. Poems by Jane Flanders. Commissioned by the Estate of Jane Flanders for Benjamin Flanders, baritone and Nell Flanders, piano. “Blue Lobster” premiered 9 January 2021 at Cincinnati SongSlam....

Ave Maris Stella

by Kile Smith | Sep 3, 2021 | Chamber Music, Choral music, hymn, liturgical music, new music, Vocal music

“Held the audience spellbound,” “leaping to their feet in a standing ovation,” “raucous,” “beautifully crafted, “especially moving and inventive,” “a worthy addition to that sacred canon” — Gail...

April Showers

by Kile Smith | Feb 19, 2021 | Art songs, new music, Vocal music

April Showers. A song cycle for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, and piano. 17′. Commissioned for Conspirare and Craig Hella Johnson. Online premieres June 11th and 13th, 2021 by soprano Stefanie Moore, mezzo-soprano Laura Mercado-Wright, tenor Dann...

What I’ve Learned from Classical Lyric Settings

by Kile Smith | Dec 23, 2020 | Broad Street Review, Classical music, Vocal music

[First published in Broad Street Review 21 Dec 2020 and reprinted here by permission.] About the best advice for composers I’ve heard comes from Mac Sledge, Robert Duvall’s washed-up country singer who finds redemption in 1983’s Tender Mercies. When word gets out he’s...

Blue Lobster

by Kile Smith | Oct 29, 2020 | Art songs, new music, Vocal music

Blue Lobster. Baritone, piano, 4′. Text by Jane Flanders (1940–2001). Commissioned by Benjamin Flanders. Ben Flanders sings in the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, so we’ve known each other since Craig Hella Johnson commissioned Canticle for them in...

Vespers for a Bach orchestra

by Kile Smith | Dec 16, 2017 | Baroque music, Choral music, new music, Orchestral Music, Vocal music

Vespers selections: (1) Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, (7) Psalm 113, (10) Magnificat, (13) Deo gratias. Re-orchestrated for the instrumentation of the J. S. Bach Cantata No. 1, Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern: 2 Oboes da caccia, 2 Horns, Organ, Strings....

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At a glance

May. Kile Smith and April Showers, paper by Anthony Zogaib, History of Western Music, Case Western Reserve University

12 May. I Want to Write a Book of Praise from The Arc in the Sky. Chor Leoni and The Leonids, Erick Lichte. Vancouver, BC, Canada

12 May. The Consolation of Apollo. Westminster Choir College, James Jordan

13 May. “I Want to Write a Book of Praise” from The Arc in the Sky. Chor Leoni and The Leonids, Erick Lichte. Vancouver, BC, Canada

14 May. You Are Most Welcome. Nexus Vocal Ensemble, Lennie Cottrell, Portland OR

22 May. New arrangements for treble voices and harp of Psalm 113 from Vespers, and Monstra te essem matrem from Ave Maris Stella. iSing Girlchoir, Jennah Delp. Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph San Jose CA, 4:00

28 May. Sometimes It Happens So. Presentation by Nell Flanders and Kile Smith, Bryn Mawr College

5 Jun. Grandmother’s Garden. Gleeksman-Kohn Children’s Choir, Settlement Music School, Rae Ann Anderson. First United Methodist, Germantown, Philadelphia

11 Jun. A Child’s Afternoon. Anna Meyer, flute, Erik Meyer, organ. The 10th Annual Kimmel Center Organ Day, American Guild of Organists—Philadelphia Chapter

29 Jun. Where Flames a Word. Classical Discoveries, Marvin Rosen, WPRB

1 Jul. Alleluia. Serenades Choral, David Hayes, Noto, Chiesa di Santa Chiara, Italy

2 Jul. Alleluia. Serenades Choral, David Hayes, Siracusa, Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo, Italy

3 Jul. The Dawn’s Early Light. Modern Notebook, Tyler Kline, WUSF, Tampa FL

3 Jul. Alleluia. Serenades Choral, David Hayes, Ragusa Ibla, Duomo San Giorgio, Italy

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.