Composer Gabriella Smith grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, playing and writing music, hiking, backpacking and volunteering on a songbird research project. Described as “the coolest, most exciting, most inventive new voice I’ve heard in ages” (Musical America) and an “outright sensation” (Los Angeles Times), Smith makes music from a love of play, exploring new sounds on instruments, building compelling musical arcs and connecting listeners with the natural world in an invitation to find joy in climate action.
Recent highlights include the premiere of her organ concerto, Breathing Forests, written for James McVinnie and Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; performances of Tumblebird Contrails by San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen, both at home and on an European tour and the release of her first full-length album, “Lost Coast,” recorded in Iceland with cellist Gabriel Cabezas, named one of NPR Music’s “26 Favorite Albums of 2021 (So Far)” and a “Classical Album to Hear Right Now” by the New York Times.
Cabezas and Smith have since debuted a (cello-violin-voice-electronics) duo version of Lost Coast, at the Philharmonie de Paris. In May, Cabezas premiered the cello concerto version of Lost Coast with Los Angles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
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