STEVEN SMITH

Conductor

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COMMUNITY

Education and Community Engagement

Throughout his career, Steven Smith has been committed to the essential role of music and the arts in education. From performances for students in schools and in concert halls, to residencies in schools, community centers and neighborhoods, he has been deeply involved in championing the importance of access to orchestral performances, bringing music to a wide range of audiences.

Collaborations with important local institutions are a crucial aspect of community engagement, from governmental bodies to educational partners and community organizations. In Richmond, Steven Smith spearheaded numerous initiatives such as the “Big Tent,” a portable outdoor performance stage and cover that has led to neighborhood festivals that support music education and local performers along with concerts by the symphony, and significant collaborations with the State Legislature, museums and universities. He also developed “First Chair,” which created intimate opportunities onstage with the orchestra for businesses as a staff and leadership development program. In Santa Fe he led collaborations with the Santa Fe Institute (“Voyages of Discovery - Mendelssohn and Darwin,” “Music and the Brain”), theater groups and schools.

Sample programs for some of these collaborations include:
Voices of Survival: Holocaust Remembrance Concert, Jan. 27, 2015
In collaboration with the Weinstein Jewish Community Center and the Virginia Holcaust Museum
With statewide college chorus/Richmond Symphony Chorus
(videos of local survivors interspersed between music throughout)

Smith                              Star-Spangled Banner
John Williams            Schindler’s List (mvts. 1 & 3)              
Erwin Schulhoff        Symphony No. 5, mvt. 3 (Scherzo)    
Michael Tippett        Go Down, Moses, from A Child of Our Time
Pavel Haas                   Study for Strings                                              
Bernstein                     Chichester Psalms, mvt. 3                              
Hans Krasa                  Overture for Small Orchestra             
Viktor Ullmann          Symphony No. 2, Mvt. 3  Adagio                   
Samuel Adler              Transfiguration: An Ecumenical Mass (mvt. 4)
                                                       Agnus Dei/Prayer for Peace
Erwin Schulhoff         Jazz Suite, Op. 37 (excerpts)              
                                                      Ragtime
                                                      Tango
                                                      Jazz        
Verdi                                Sanctus, from Requiem                                                          
Imber/Cohen              Hatikva   
(televised by WCVE, PBS, Richmond)

                                                                                                        
Emancipation Proclamation 150th Anniversary Celebration Concert, April 13, 2013
In collaboration with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission of the Virgina Legislature
With statewide college chorus

John Stafford Smith       Star Spangled Banner  (orchestra, chorus, audience)
William Grant Still:         Afro American Symphony (mvts. 1 & 3) (orchestra)
Arr. Roland Carter         Lift Every Voice and Sing  (chorus, orchestra)
Nkeiru Okoye:                  Songs of Harriett Tubman (excerpt) (soprano solo, orch.)
Adolphus Hailstork        Three Spirituals (orchestra)
Arr. Wilhousky                  Battle Hymn of the Republic  (chorus, orchestra)
Elegba Folklore Society (w/chorus)
Duke Ellington                  Three Black Kings: Martin Luther King (orchestra)
George F. Root                 Battle Cry of Freedom  (chorus, orchestra, audience)
Aaron Copland                 Lincoln Portrait  (narrator, orchestra)                                      
Willis L. Barnett               Emancipation Overture
                                                  Proclamation recitation/Prayer for Peace
                                                            (soloists, chorus, orchestra, audience)


"Celebrate Jackson Ward" Abner Clay Park
Richmond Symphony Big Tent Festival

Johnson/Johnson         Lift Every Voice and Sing (orch., chorus)                    
w/Elegba Folklore Society  Praise Song - chant (Elegba, chorus)                                          
Trad.                                    Swing Low Sweet Chariot (strings, chorus)                             
James P. Johnson         Drums, A Symphonic Poem (orch.)    
Arr. S. Smith                    Collaboration with Elegba  (Elegba, orch.)    
Florence Price               Symphony no 3, 3rd mvt (orch.)                   
“When I First Saw You” from Dreamgirls (VA Rep, orch.)
“Some Enchanted Evening” from South Pacific (VA Rep, orch.)
“The Color Purple” from The Color Purple (VA Rep, orch.)   
         w/Virginia Repertory Theater
Bates/Ward                 America the Beautiful singalong (chorus, orch.)                      
Trad./Howe, arr. Wilhousky  Battle Hymn of the Republic (chorus, orch.)    
Ellington/Strayhorn. arr. Tyzik   The Essential Ellington (orch.)


"The Gift of Music"
Richmond Symphony/East End Big Tent Festival
Rossini                   William Tell (finale)                
Copland                 Appalachian Spring (excerpts)                       
Kreisler                  Tambourin chinois (Daisuke Yamamoto, violin)         
Beethoven            Symphony No. 7, mvt. 4                    
Gershwin              Someone to Watch Over Me                
Gershwin              S'Wonderful                                                    
                                                (Desiree Roots, sop.)
arr. Holcombe    Michael Jackson medley                                 
Bates/Ward        America the Beautiful
                                                w/audience sing-along
w/No BS Brass Band   Jalapeños, Runaround, RVA All Day
Williams               Star Wars Suite           
Sousa                     Stars and Stripes Forever (encore)