Gabriella Smith

Gabriella Smith (born December 26, 1991) is an American composer from Berkeley, California.

Life

Smith was born in Berkeley, California.[1] As a teenager, she was very interested in biology, ecology, and conservation, and she spent five years volunteering on a songbird research project in Point Reyes, California.[2][3]

Smith began learning the violin at age seven and began composing soon thereafter.[2] Later, she was mentored by John Adams as a part of his Young Composers Program in Berkeley.[4] She received her Bachelors of Music in composition from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 2013, and was an ArtistYear fellow there during the 2015-16 season.[5][6] She is currently a doctoral candidate at Princeton University,[6] and has been living in Marseille, France since 2017.[7]

In her free time, Smith enjoys hiking, backpacking, birding, playing capoeira, and making underwater recordings with a hydrophone.[6]

Performances

Smith's works have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, Eighth Blackbird, Bang on a Can All Stars, the Nashville Symphony, YMusic, the Aizuri Quartet, the Dover Quartet, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, the PRISM Quartet, and others.[6]

Her piece Tumblebird Contrails was commissioned by the Pacific Harmony Foundation and premiered in 2014 by the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop.[8] In January 2019, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by John Adams, performed the piece as part of its centennial season.[6]

Her string quartet Carrot Revolution was written in 2015 for the Aizuri Quartet, having been commissioned by the Barnes Foundation for their exhibition The Order of Things. In November 2019, it was performed by members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a part of their Green Umbrella concert series.[4][9]

The Curtis Symphony Orchestra commissioned a work from Smith, set to be performed on its domestic tour in January–February 2020, culminating in a performance in Carnegie Hall.[5][10]

Smith's 2019 composition "Bioluminescence Chaconne" had its world premiere with the Oregon Symphony in Portland on February 8, 2020.[11]

Awards

Smith has received a BMI Student Composer Award (2018), an ASCAP Leo Kaplan Award (2014), three ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, and the Theodore Presser Foundation Music Award (2012). She has also won the 2015 American Modern Ensemble Composition Competition and the 2009 Pacific Musical Society Composition Competition.[6]

Works

Orchestral[12]
  • f(x) = xsin2x+x (2010)
  • Circadian Rhythm (2011)
  • Tidalwave Kitchen (2012)
  • Riprap (2013)
  • Tumblebird Contrails (2014)
  • Rust (2016)
  • Field Guide (2017)
  • Hexacorallia (2018)
  • f(x) = sin2x - 1/x (2019)
  • Bioluminescence Chaconne (2019)

Chamber[13]
  • Down the Foggy Ruins of Time (2009) for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
  • Kisiabaton (2010) for oboe and string quartet
  • Children of the Fire (2012) for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, and bass
  • Spring/Neap (2012) for saxophone quartet
  • Brandenburg Interstices (2012) for flute, two violins, viola, cello, bass, and harpsichord
  • Gliese 581 (2013) for guitar, clarinet, and cello
  • Riprap (2013) for marimba, or string quartet and marimba, or string orchestra
  • Number Nine (2013) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano
  • Inyo (2013) for string quartet
  • the tide is in our veins (2015) for flute, clarinet, electric guitar, bass, and piano
  • Forgotten Lullabies (2015) for voice, alto saxophone, violin, cello, drum set, and bass
  • Máncora to Huaraz (2015) for piano four-hands
  • Carrot Revolution (2015) for string quartet
  • Panitao (2016) for clarinet, electric guitar, cello, bass, piano, percussion, and field recording
  • Huascarán (2016) for clarinet, saxophone, violin, cello, piano, and percussion
  • Maré (2017) for flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, viola, and cello
  • Loop the Fractal Hold of Rain (2017) for two guitars
  • tapin~ 517 / tapout~ (2017) for five violins
  • Divertimento (2018) for violin, cello, bass
  • Tessellations (2018) for flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, viola, cello
  • Requiem (2018) for eight voices and string quartet
  • Anthozoa (2018) for violin, cello, piano, and percussion
  • Divisible (2019) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion
  • Porcupine Wash (2019) for string quartet

Solo[14]
  • the heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit (2013) for cello and live electronics
  • Lost Coast Loops (2014) for solo guitar
  • I heard the summer dust crying to be born (2015) for solo drum set

Vocal[15]
  • Maha (2014)
  • Forgotten Lullabies (2015)
  • Requiem (2018)

References
  1. "Anne-Sophie Mutter Plays Beethoven". Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
  2. "MusicalAmerica - New Artist of the Month: Composer Gabriella Smith". www.musicalamerica.com. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  3. Peacocke, Gemma (2018-07-24). "5 Questions to Gabriella Smith (composer)". icareifyoulisten.com. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  4. "Review: What does a carrot have to do with a Green Umbrella? Everything". Los Angeles Times. 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  5. Whiting, Melinda. "Notations (Alumni)." Overtones, Fall 2019, p. 31.
  6. "Bio". www.gabriellasmith.com. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  7. "Composer Gabriella Smith Is Enjoying the Ride". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
  8. "Tumblebird Contrails (Gabriella Smith)". LA Phil. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  9. "Carrot Revolution for string quartet (Gabriella Smith)". LA Phil. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  10. "US Orchestra Tour 2020". www.curtis.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  11. "Oregon Symphony". Oregon Symphony. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  12. "Orchestral". www.gabriellasmith.com. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  13. "Chamber". www.gabriellasmith.com. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  14. "Solo". www.gabriellasmith.com. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  15. "Vocal". www.gabriellasmith.com. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
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