by Kile Smith | Jan 11, 2025 | Chamber Music, New Compositions, Vocal music
Endless Morn of Light. For six singers and viol consort, 20′. Commissioned by the Sylvan Consort of Viols and Variant 6 and premiered by them 14, 15, 16 Mar 2025 in Philadelphia, Wilmington DE and Bala Cynwyd PA. Words by John Milton (1608–1674), At a Solemn...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
