Kile Smith ’80
Composer
[dropcap3]T[/dropcap3]he music of Kile Smith is hailed for its “sparkling beauty” by Gramophone, which called Vespers “spectacular.” His works are praised for their emotional power, direct appeal, and strong voice.
His many commissions include orchestral, choral, chamber, and liturgical works. They include The Waking Sun and Where Flames a Word for The Crossing, The Nobility of Women, a dance suite for Mélomanie, and the song cycle Plain Truths for the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival. He’s composed for Jennifer Montone, Principal Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, David Kim, Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Anne Martindale Williams, Principal Cello of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Future projects include music for the Closing Eucharist of the Annual Conference of the Association of Anglican Musicians in June 2012, and an orchestral work for the 2012-13 season.
Many orchestras have performed Kile’s music, including the Delaware, Grand Rapids, Philadelphia Classical, and Jackson (Tenn.) symphonies, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, and the Sofia, Sofia Youth, and Shumen State Philharmonics of Bulgaria. His works have been played by Network for New Music, Latin Fiesta, and the Ocean City Pops. This spring, an original composition of Kile’s, Elegy, was performed at Cairn’s Samuel Hsu Memorial Concert.
Kile hosts Now is the Time and co-hosts Discoveries from the Fleisher Collection on Philadelphia’s WRTI-FM, and is a regular contributor to the Broad Street Review. For 18 years he was Curator of the Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music in the Free Library of Philadelphia, and is a sought-after lecturer.
Kile is on the adjunct faculties of Cairn University, teaching composition, advanced orchestration, and music history, and Temple University, teaching music notation. Kile lives in Philadelphia with his wife, the soprano Jacqueline Smith, and their daughters.