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Praised by the New York Times as “a young composer of great gifts”, LARRY ALAN SMITH has developed an international reputation as a composer, performer, educator and arts executive. Many of today’s outstanding soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras have performed and commissioned works by Larry Alan Smith. Upon hearing the world premiere of his one-act opera, Aria da Capo, the well-known Chicago-based critic, Claudia Cassidy, reported: “This is remarkable opera theatre…Smith has an ear for flaring brilliance…All this seems to me a true talent, primarily because I want to hear Aria da Capo again.” He began his earliest musical training in Ohio, and pursued his studies in France with Nadia Boulanger and at The Juilliard School with Vincent Persichetti. While earning his B.M., M.M. and D.M.A. degrees at Juilliard, he was the recipient of several prizes, including the Joseph Machlis Prize for outstanding distinction in composition. During his final year of study, Dr. Smith was appointed to the Faculty of the Juilliard School where he taught from 1980-86. Previously, he was on the Composition Faculty of the Boston Conservatory. An award-winning and prolific composer, Larry Alan Smith is represented and published by the Theodore Presser Company. His works are also published by Bourne Music, E.B. Marks, Colla Voce Music, and Tallow Tree Music Publishing; and his vocal works are distributed by Classical Vocal Reprints. Dr. Smith is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and he serves on a number of regional and national boards. He was recently awarded the 2006 Forrest Goodenough Fellowship for Composers and Songwriters from the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. In addition to his primary life as a composer, Dr. Smith also maintains an active performing schedule. He has guest conducted numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles in England, Brazil, Italy, Germany and the United States. Dr. Smith is also an experienced pianist who frequently performs his own works. As an arts executive, he served as the President of the School of American Ballet from 1997-2000, Dean of the Hartt School at the University of Hartford from 1990-97 and Dean of the School of Music at the North Carolina School of the Arts from 1986-90. He is currently Professor of Composition at the Hartt School, Artistic and Executive Director of Wintergreen Performing Arts in Wintergreen, VA and Artistic Director of American SongFest in Woodstock, New York, a component of Woodstock Fringe. Larry Alan Smith is a Group XI Fellow of the Kellogg National Fellowship Program, a program of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation designed to expand the nation’s pool of capable leaders. He is the President of Berg Associates, Inc., a Connecticut corporation providing consulting services to arts organizations and other businesses; and he serves as a Senior Consultant for Arts Consulting Group, Inc., working out of the firm’s New York and Boston offices. Dr. Smith is also a prolific poet who resides in Avon, Connecticut with his wife, pianist Marguerita Oundjian Smith, and their sons, Jamie, Christopher, Benjamin and William. |
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Photo by Ron Compton |
