Smith, Stuart Saunders

Stuart Saunders Smith

Biography

Born: March 16, 1948

Country: Portland, Maine, U.S.A.

Studies: Hartt College, University of Illinois (D.M.A.)

Teachers: Edward Diemente, Edward J. Miller, Salvatore Martirano, Herbert Brün, Ben Johnston

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Stuart Saunders Smith's compositions fall into four areas of creative research:

• Inventing music of extreme rhythmic and melodic complexity
  
• Making musical mobiles where there is no fixed musical score but rather instrumental parts that freely interact
  
• Composing for spoken texts
  
• Creating trans-media systems for groups of performance artists (dancers, mimes, actors, etc.).
  

Smith's music is regularly performed throughout North America, Western Europe, and has had notable performances in Asia. His music is recorded on O.O. Discs, Capstone Records, and on European labels in Austria, France, and Germany. He has received the East/West Artist Award, the Maryland State Artists Fellowship, the Pittsburgh Film Forum Grant, the National Endowment for the Arts Composer's Fellowship, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts Master Artist Award. Smith's music is published by Sonic Art Editions. Articles on Stuart Saunders Smith's music have appeared in Percussive Notes Research Edition, Perspectives of New Music, Interface, and Ex Tempore. In 1997 The Music of Stuart of Saunders Smith, by John Welsh, was published by Excelsior Press, NYC, NY. For further information see The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Works for Percussion

Glockenspiel Works

All That Is Left
Even Song
Thaw
Thicket
Wellspring

Vibraphone Works

Links
Links 2
Links 3
Links 4, (Monk)
Links No. 9 (Mosque)
Links No. 10
One for Syl

Marimba Works

As If Time Would Heal By Its Passing
Good night.
Leaving

Snare Drum Works

Brush
The Noble Snare (Volume 1)
The Noble Snare (Volume 2)
The Noble Snare (Volume 3)
The Noble Snare (Volume 4)

Multiple Percussion Works

"... and points north"
Dad's time had come
dim.
Family Portraits: Delbert (great-grandfather)
Songs I-IX
Tunnels

Drumset Works

Blue Too
Two Lights

Percussion Ensemble Works

Coming and Going - Percussion Trio
Each Moment an Ending - Percussion Quintet
From one to Another - Percussion Duo
Links No. 5 (Sitting on the Edge of Nothing) - Percussion Trio
Links No. 5 (Sitting on the Edge of Nothing) v.2 - Vibraphone; Percussion Duo (Offstage)
Links No. 11 - Percussion Trio (3 Vibraphones)
Polka in Treblinka - Percussion Trio
Return and Recall and Initiatives and Reactions - Percussion Duo (Indeterminate Instrumentation)
The Geography of Streams - Percussion Trio
Transitions and Leaps - Percussion Duo (Indeterminate Instrumentation)
Two for Four - Percussion Quartet
When Music is Missing, Music Sings - Percussion Duo (Indeterminate Instrumentation)

With Voice Works

Breath - Glockenspiel; Voice
Links No. 7 (New England Night Weave) - Vibraphone; Voice (Folk Singer)
Nightshade - Percussion Duo; Voice
Poems I, II, III - Multiple Percussion; Narrator
Poems IV, V, VI - Percussion Duo; Narrator
Thinking About Anne Sexton - Vibraphone; Voice

With Other Instrument Works

Blue - Drumset; Trumpet; Double Bass
Endless - Percussion Duo; Flutes (2)
Family Portraits: Cubba (grandfather) - Percussion Quintet; Trumpet; Flute
Family Portraits: Embden Pond - Percussion Duo; Flute
Gifts - Percussion Duo; Organ
Here and There - Mallets; Piano (interior)
In Common - Vibraphone; Flute
Links No. 6 (Song Interiors) - Vibraphone; Piano
Links No. 8 (Confessions - Witness of 48 things) - Vibraphone; Flute
Meetings - Vibraphone; Flute; Piano
Strays - Xylophone; Recorder/Flute
The Night is Never Long (Xylo/Picc) - Xylophone; Piccolo
The Night is Never Long (Mar/BClar) - Marimba; Bass Clarinet
Thinking About - Percussion
Two Makes Three - Percussion Duo; Organ
When Music is Missing, Music Sings (1998) - Percussion