Gabriella Smith

Gabriella Smith is an American composer and environmentalist, whose wildly imaginative musical works evoke the beauty and terror of the natural world.

Born in California, on December 26th, 1991, Smith began playing violin at seven years old and subsequently grew interested in composition. She later enrolled on John Adams’ Young Composer Program in her home city of Berkeley, before continuing her musical education at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied under David Ludwig.

Smith’s love of the great outdoors, coupled with her keen interest in ecology and conservation, has been a significant driver in her musical direction. Much of her work takes inspiration from nature, in particular the habitats of the American west coast where she grew up, and continues to reside. One such piece, Lost Coast - a concerto for cello and orchestra written for long time collaborator Gabriel Cabezas - was born out of Smith’s solo hiking adventure along a remote and rugged section of coastline in Northern California. Other notable works that explore the complex relationship between humans and the natural world include Breathing Forests - a 2021 concerto for organ and orchestra, and the innovate 2023 piece, Keep Going, which features recordings of interviews with climate activists and those working on solutions to the problem.

Although still in her early thirties, Smith has already gained a widespread, glowing reputation in the contemporary classical world, which has resulted in her work being commissioned and performed by leading orchestras and ensembles in the United States and internationally. Amongst many high profile outings of Smith’s work are the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2019 performance of the hauntingly evocative 2014 tone poem, Tumblebird Contrails, (with John Adams conducting), the 2023 performance of the same piece by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic (under Esa-Pekka Salonen), and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 2019 premiere of the mathematically inspired f(x) = sin²x - 1/x (the title of which is the name of a curve that, between specific values of x, describes the form of the piece).

Winner of various awards including a BMI Student Composer Award in 2018, Smith’s music - often characterised by the inclusion of sounds from nature - exudes energy and inventiveness, whilst raising awareness of the key environmental issues of our time.