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  1. Managing Director
  2. Managing Director
  3. Managing Director
  4. Managing Director
  5. Managing Director
  6. Managing Director
  7. Managing Director
  8. Managing Director

PROGRAMS

Programming philosophy

Steven Smith has a wide-ranging and inclusive philosophy of orchestral programming. This encompasses repertoire from many different eras and nationalities and the recognition that today many differing genres connect to orchestras. A wide repertoire encompassing many styles will be attractive to a wider potential audience, broadening the reach and impact of orchestras. Innovative collaboration across art forms (dance, theater, visual arts) can illuminate exciting creative territory and further expand the spectrum of enthusiastic patrons. The exploration of alternative venues and formats for performances is evolving along with rapid changes in communication and society.

The core of our mission should always to be to perform great music at our highest potential. We have a responsibility to bring to life music of the past while connecting it to music of today. It is also essential to give voice to the wide array of composers writing music today that reflects their diversity of experience and world view. Music of our time illuminates past masterpieces; similarly, composers of previous eras continue to inspire those who follow.

Sample programs below:
Richmond Symphony (selected)
 
Stucky                          Jeu de timbres
Brubeck                      Travels in Time for Three
Bartok                          Concerto for Orchestra


Mary Watkins                            Five Movements in Color (2 excerpts)
Jonathan Bailey Holland      Equality
Beethoven                                   Choral Fantasy
Undine Smith Moore             Scenes from the Life of a Martyr


Kaprálová                    Suita Rustica
Brahms                         Concerto for Violin and Cello
Dvořák                          Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”


Honegger                     Pacific 231
Mason Bates              Children of Adam
                                                World Premiere – RSO commission
Tobias Picker              Old and Lost Rivers
Debussy                        La Mer


Berlioz                           Roméo et Juliette


Zachary Wadsworth    Point – Line – Plane 
Korngold                             Violin Concerto
                                                            Phillipe Quint, violin
Nielsen                                 Symphony No. 4 (“The Inextinguishable”)     


Mussorgsky                 Night on Bald Mountain
                                             (choral version “The Dream of Peasant Gritzko”)
Beethoven                    Piano Concerto No. 3   
Shostakovich               Symphony No. 6                                
           

Griffes                             The White Peacock                             
Barber                             Symphony No. 1 in one movement   
Ravel                                Daphnis and Chloé (complete)           
          

Mahler                            Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”                                
           

Marta Ptaszynska     Lumen
R. Strauss                       Horn Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky                  Symphony No. 4


Ellington                        Harlem
                                            Three Black Kings (Concerto Grosso version)
                                            Selections from Sacred Concerts
                                            Night Creature


Berlioz                             Le damnation de Faust


“Musical Revolutionaries”
Monteverdi                   Toccata and Ritornelli from Orfeo, SV 318      
Beethoven                     Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67             
Stravinsky                      Le sacre du printemps
          

A Evening with Kate Lindsey
Bizet                                   Carmen, Prelude
Canteloube                     Selections from Chants d’Auvergne
                                                                    Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano
Debussy                            Iberia
Selected arias (Massenet, Berlioz, Chabrier/Offenbach)
                                                                   Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano
Ravel                                   Alborada del grazioso


Wagner                             Lohengrin excerpts   
                                               Act 1 Prelude, Elsa’s Procession, Act III Prelude
George Walker             Foils for Orchestra (Homage a Saint-Georges)
Strauss                              Don Quixote
          
         
Arvo Pärt                          Fratres
Shostakovich                  Symphony No. 9
Dvořák                               Cello Concerto

           
Rossini                               Overture to The Barber of Seville
Poulenc                             Gloria
Ravel                                   Piano Concerto in G
Stravinsky                        Jeu de Cartes

           
John Adams                   The Chairman Dances
Mendelssohn                Die erste Walpurgisnacht (RSO Chorus)
Beethoven                      Symphony No. 7

   
Dvořák                               Three Slavonic Dances (Op. 72, nos. 1, 2 and 7 )
Janáček                              Taras Bulba
Rachmaninoff                 Symphonic Dances

 
Salieri                                 Sinfonia Veneziana
Norman Bolter             IOURS
Crawford (Seeger)     Andante for Strings
                                              Rissolty Rossolty
Mozart                              Symphony No. 38 “Prague”


Steven Smith, arr.         Canciones Hispanas
Piazzolla                            Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
Revueltas                         Alcancías
Gabriela Lena Frank   Elegía Andina
Copland                            Three Latin-American Sketches

           
Gluck                                  Overture to “Orfeo ed Euridice”
Joan Tower                      Chamber Dance
Purcell/Holst                  The Gordian Knot Untied, Suite No. 1
Schubert                           Symphony No. 5


Ives                                      The Unanswered Question
Tchaikovsky                     Variations on a Rococo Theme
Clint Needham              Urban Sprawl
Haydn                                 Symphony No. 92, “Oxford”


Rossini                              Overture to “L’italiana in Algeri”                   
Ginastera                        Harp Concerto                       
Falla                                    Three Cornered Hat, Suite No. 1         Arriaga                              Symphony in D Major

           
Barber                               Medea
Bernard Rands              Madrigal
Brahms                              Serenade No. 2


Kraus                                  Symphony in E minor
Copland                            Clarinet Concerto
Ives                                      Symphony No. 3 “The Camp Meeting”
Dvořák                               Czech Suite


Fauré                                 Masques et bergamasques
Ravel                                  Tzigane
Saint-Saëns                     Introduction and Rondo capriccioso
Roussel                              Le Festin de l’araignée
Ravel                                   Le Tombeau de Couperin      


Gounod                            Petite Symphonie for winds
Lutosławski                    Preludes and Fugues (13 solo strings)
Schubert                          Symphony No. 6


Piazzolla                          Tangazo
Rodrigo                            Concierto de Aranjuez
William Bolcom           Commedia for (almost) 18th-century orchestra
Mozart                             Symphony No. 39


Cleveland Orchestra (selected)

Stravinsky                 Jeu de Cartes
Prokofiev                   Piano Concerto No. 2
Ives                               Set for Theatre Orchestra
Beethoven                Symphony No. 8


Steven Stucky         Dreamwaltzes
Copland                     Clarinet Concerto
Shostakovich           Symphony No. 5


Berlioz                         Le Corsaire Overture
Mozart                         Violin Concerto No. 3
Debussy                      Six Epigraphes Antique
Lutosławski               Concerto for Orchestra


Karel Husa               Concerto for Orchestra
Grieg                           Piano Concerto
Dvořák                       Slavonic Dances Op. 72, Nos. 1, 2, 7


Martinu                     Memorial to Lidice
Brahms                      Symphony No. 3
Rachmaninoff        Piano Concerto No. 2


Strauss, R.                 Also Sprach Zarathustra
Haydn                         Cello Concerto in C
Strauss, arr. S. Smith   Suite from “Der Rosenkavalier”


Ravel                          Mother Goose Suite
Gluck                          Arias from “Orfeo”
                                                     Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
Gluck                           Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Dance of the Furies
Milhaud                      Le Beouf sur le toit
Various                       French Theatre Songs
                                                     Susan Graham
Ibert                             Divertissement


Opera

Bizet                             Carmen
Mozart                        Le nozze di Figaro
Mozart                        Die Zauberflöte
Mozart                        Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Carlisle Floyd          Susannah
Smetana                     The Bartered Bride
Britten                         Albert Herring
Humperdinck          Hänsel and Gretel
Offenbach                 Orpheus in the Underworld
Thea Musgrave       The Abbot of Dimock
Richard Wargo        Chekov Trilogy
Edwin London          Santa Claus


Guest Conducting (selected)

Berlioz                         King Lear Overture
Mendelssohn           Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
J. Strauss, Jr              Emperor Waltzes
Beethoven                 Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”


“Farewells”
Helen Bowater       Urwachst
Haydn                          Symphony No. 45 “Farewell”
Ives                                Three Places in New England
Strauss                         Four Last Songs
Wagner                        Wotan’s Farewell, Loge’s Magic Fire Music
                                                from Die Walküre

    
Ravel                            Pavane pour une infant defunte
Ross Harris               Symphony No. 1
Faure                            Requiem
Debussy                      La Mer

 
Revueltas                    Sensemaya
Prokofiev                    Violin Concerto No. 2 in gm
Ibert                               Escales
Debussy                      Iberia


Erb                                 Prismatic Variations
Tchaikovsky               Romeo and Juliet
Strauss                         Don Quixote


Stravinsky                  Symphony of Psalms
Prokofiev                    “Alexander Nevsky” Cantata
Ives                                Symphony No. 4


Composers performed

Steven Smith is dedicated to performing music by contemporary composers and has enjoyed personal collaborations with many.
He has performed works by:

John Adams
Samuel Adler
Bruce Adolphe
Jeremy Allen
T. J. Anderson
Larry Baker
Mason Bates
William Bolcom
Margaret Brauer
Benjamin Broening
Loris Chobanian
John Corigliano
Ruth Crawford (Seeger)
Michael Daugherty
Richard Danielpour
David Del Tredici
David Diamond
Jacob Druckman
David Dzubay
Dennis Eberhard
Donald Erb
Fang Man
Irving Fine
Keith Fitch
Gabriela Lena Frank
Adolphus Hailstork
John Harbison
Jonathan Bailey Holland
Monica Houghton
Karel Husa
Ulysses Kay
Aaron Jay Kernis
William Kraft
David Lang
Libby Larsen
Edwin London
Jing Jing Luo
Peter Maxwell Davies
Undine Smith Moore
Jeffrey Mumford
Thea Musgrave
Clint Needham
Eugene O’Brien
Nkeiru Okoye
Arvo Pärt
Stephen Paulus
Julia Perry
Tobias Picker
Russell Pinkston
Gerald Plain
Florence Price
Marta Ptaszynska
Kevin Puts
Shulamit Ran
Bernard Rands
Paquito D’Rivera
Robert Xavier Rodriguez
Christopher Rouse
Paul Schoenfield
Joseph Schwantner
Laura Schwendiger
Judith Shatin
Bright Sheng
Marilyn Shrude
Hale Smith
Steven Stucky
Tan Dun
Augusta Read Thomas
Joan Tower
Zachary Wadsworth
Melinda Wagner
George Walker
Richard Wargo
Mary Watkins
Dan Welcher
Frank Wiley
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich