STEVEN SMITH

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STEVEN SMITH

Praised for his “unerringly paced,” “sensitive and deeply focused” interpretations, Steven Smith’s performances have been described as possessing “great concentration and gripping tonal drama” and whose “most impressive achievement was coloristic.” “A singer’s conductor,” he “shows a real gift for delivering a theatrical punch.”
Steven Smith celebrates the release of the Richmond Symphony's first commercial recording, on the highly respected Reference Recordings label. The recording pairs the world premiere of Mason Bates' Children of Adam (commissioned by the Richmond Symphony for its 60th anniversary) and Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem. Both works utilize poetry of Walt Whitman (among others), appropriate in this bicentennial of his birth, and also feature the Richmond Symphony Chorus.

"The very fine interpretations on this very well recorded disc do much to put across the composers’ distinct and distinctive use of the words to the best possible effect. " -Mark Estren

Learn more about this exciting and powerfully moving recording at:

Reference Recordings
https://mailchi.mp/fba25faeeb88/press-fr-732


BIOGRAPHY

STEVEN SMITH served as Music Director of Virginia’s Richmond Symphony from 2010, launching his tenure with a gala concert featuring violinist Gil Shaham, to 2019 with a finale of "Carmen" in concert starring Denyce Graves.  During that time the Richmond Symphony performed a significantly wider repertoire representative of our global community, embracing music by living composers, with particular focus on cultural and gender diversity and commissioning new works.  During his tenure the RSO has weathered and recovered from the recession, seeing its budget climb over 30%, posting steadily increasing ticket sales (with the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons setting records of over $1 million in sales) and accomplished the first expansion of the core orchestra in over 20 years.  In addition, Smith has conceived and presented new concert series such as “Casual Fridays,” hourlong explorations (combining discussion with complete performances) of core repertoire with the full orchestra, and “Rush Hour,” a chamber orchestra series held in the barrel room at the popular Hardywood Park Craft Brewery.  An active speaker, he delivered the keynote address for the Southern Newspaper Publisher's Association and has appeared twice on the acclaimed speaker series, "Eyes on Richmond."

August 2019 also brings the release of the Richmond Symphony's first commercial recording, on the highly respected Reference Recordings label. The recording pairs the world premiere of Mason Bates's Children of Adam (commissioned by the Richmond Symphony for its 60th anniversary) and Vaughan Williams's Dona Nobis Pacem. Both works utilize poetry of Walt Whitman (among others), appropriate in this bicentennial of his birth, and also feature the Richmond Symphony Chorus.

In 2013, Steven Smith completed a 14-year tenure as Music Director of the Santa Fe Symphony & Chorus, a period during which the orchestra achieved numerous goals: recognized artistic growth, financial stability and enthusiastic community support.  He also serves as Music Director of the Grammy Award-winning Cleveland Chamber Symphony, an ensemble devoted to the performance of contemporary music.  Each spring, CCS  presents the annual NEOSonicFest, a festival of new music and dance performances of which he serves as Artistic Director.  From 2016-19 he also served as an Affiliate Faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Steven Smith has enjoyed collaborations with a wide array of solo artists, including Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Lang Lang, Susan Graham, Mercedes Ellington, Rita Moreno, Rhiannon Giddens, Savion Glover, The Smothers Brothers, Tiempo Libre and Common. Other notable soloists include violinists Gil Shaham, Midori, Anne Akiko Myers, Phillippe Quint, Joseph Lin, Andres Cardenas, Elmar Oliveira, Tessa Lark, Elena Urioste, Tai Murray; violists Roberto Diaz and Paul Neubauer; cellists Alisa Weilerstein, Gary Hoffman, Mark Kossower, Carter Brey, Julie Allbers; pianists Garrick Ohlsson, Andreas Haefliger, Kyrill Gerstein, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Andre Watts, Jon Kimura Parker, Orli Shaham, Anton Nel, Terrence Wilson, Orion Weiss, Norman Krieger, Anton Nel, Stewart Goodyear, Haochen Zhang, Yuja Wang; percussionist Evelyn Glennie, flutist Marina Piccinnini, guitarists Jason Vieaux and David Starobin and the ensemble Time for Three.  Vocalists include Kate Lindsey, Kelly O’Connor, Susan Platts, Christine Brewer, Susannah Phillips, Angela Brown, Jennifer Feinstein, Martha Guth, Kelly Nassief, Michelle Areyzaga, Anne-Carolyn Bird, Katherine Leemhuis, John Duykers, Stanford Olsen, Vale Rideout, Marco Panuccio, Lester Lynch, Andrew Gangestad, Kevin Deas, Adam Cioffari, Will Liverman, Darren K. Stokes and Edward Grimes.

From 1997 to 2003, Steven Smith served as the Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, conducting subscription concerts, summer concerts at the Blossom Music Festival and holiday programs. Particularly interested in the role of orchestras in arts education, he assisted in the planning and conducting of the Cleveland Orchestra's educational and family concerts and hosted the orchestra’s annual broadcast videoconference, which won an Emmy Award in 2001. For five seasons he also served as Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.  During his tenure they were invited by Carnegie Hall to perform in that institution’s famed Isaac Stern Auditorium, an appearance that took place in March, 2000.  During 2002-05, he also served on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory, leading both orchestral and operatic performances.

Steven Smith’s guest-conducting activities include his debut with the Virginia Opera, conducting their production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and the 30th anniversary celebration of the Richmond Ballet featuring a triple bill of Balanchine’s Serenata (to Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings), Bernstein’s Fancy Free and Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps. He has also appeared with the San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, New Mexico Symphony,  Puerto Rico Symphony, Taiwan's National Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, Kalamazoo Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony and Akron Symphony and repeated returns to Mexico's Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa and New Zealand’s Auckland Philharmonia.  He has appeared regularly at the Cleveland Institute of Music, leading programs celebrating 75th birthdays of David Del Tredici and Bernard Rands, a tribute to Pierre Boulez and featuring music of Shulamit Ran and Melinda Wagner.  In addition, he has conducted the Carnegie-Mellon Philharmonic and numerous programs at Indiana University, including their production of Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah.” Other opera productions include “Susannah,” Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and Bizet’s “Carmen” at the Brevard Music Festival, and Mozart’s “Abduction from the Seraglio” with Lyric Opera Cleveland.  Additional orchestral guest conducting has included performances with the orchestras of Annapolis, Colorado, Dayton, Hartford, Long Beach, Long Island, Memphis, Sacramento, Santa Rosa and Toledo.  During summers he has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, and with the National Repertory Orchestra, Summer Music at Harkness, Chicago's Grant Park Symphony and New York's Chautauqua Symphony.

From 1996-1998, Steven Smith was the Associate Conductor of The Kansas City Symphony and the recipient of the prestigious Conductor Career Development Grant by the Geraldine C. and Emory M. Ford Foundation. In 1996, he was one of a select group of conductors to appear at the American Symphony Orchestra League's National Conductor Preview. Previously, Mr. Smith was Assistant Conductor of the Colorado Springs Symphony and Concertmaster of the Grand Rapids Symphony.

Steven Smith is also an active ASCAP award-winning composer. He was named 2008 Ohio Composer of the Year and with that honor received a commission for a new string quartet which was premiered in November, 2008.   His newest orchestral works are Chromo-Synchrony, premiered by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony in March, 2015, and Kataklysmos, premiered by the Santa Fe Symphony in May, 2010.  The Cleveland Orchestra has performed his La Chasse at the Blossom Festival under the direction of Jahja Ling, and his  One to One A Round for educational concerts at Severance Hall.   His work, Tane Mahuta, was commissioned to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and was premiered in April, 2006.  He has received commissions from the Cleveland Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Eugene Youth Symphony and solo artists, and has had performances by the Chautauqua Symphony, Colorado Springs Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Eugene Youth Symphony and Colorado Springs Youth Symphony.

In December, 1995, Shake, Rattle and Roar, an interactive work for young audience and orchestra, was performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic; it had previously been given ten performances by the National Symphony on the Kennedy Center’s Educational Concerts. Featured on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and Performance Today, Shake, Rattle and Roar is designed to allow a large group of children to experience the excitement of participation in music through the building of several basic instruments and playing them with a symphony orchestra. Originally commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra in 1991, the piece has also been presented by the Indianapolis, Colorado Springs, Columbus, Tulsa and Grand Rapids Symphony orchestras.

For further information on Steven Smith’s compositions please visit elexitmusic.com .

A native of Toledo, Ohio, Steven Smith earned masters degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Smith is the recipient of the CIM Alumni Association 1999 Alumni Achievement Award.