Nicholas Michael Smith OBE
Nicholas Michael Smith, Beijing 2014
Born	1967
Alma mater	St John’s College Cambridge
Occupation(s)	Classical conductor and composer
Years active	1994 (1994)–present
Spouse	Shen Yue (pianist)

Nicholas Michael Smith OBE (born 1967, also known as Nick Smith, Chinese: 尼克 史密斯; pinyin: Níkè Shǐmìsī) is a British conductor, composer, and music educator.

Since 1994, Smith has lived and worked in the People's Republic of China.^[1] His contributions to classical music performance and education in China have been the subject of documentaries and interviews on Chinese television and radio.^[1][2]

In 2011, Smith was awarded an OBE in recognition of his "services to music and to UK/China relations".^[3]

Biography

Born in 1967, Smith grew up in the United Kingdom attending Exeter School. He read music at St John’s College Cambridge (1987-90) under Robin Holloway and Martin Ennis.

In 1994, he moved to Wuhan, China to establish a post-graduate course in music theory at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music.

After relocating to Beijing in 1995, Smith worked with the Beijing Concert Hall on educational concerts to foster interest in western classical music with Chinese audiences. In 1997, Smith founded the Peking Sinfonietta and, in 2002, the Beijing International Festival Chorus.^[1][2] Smith has conducted soloists, ensembles, and orchestras on Chinese tour, including soprano Dame Emma Kirkby, violinists Kenneth Renshaw and Lü Siqing, British tenor Justin Lavender, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the China National Film Symphony Orchestra, China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and Teatro Lirico Sperimentale.

In 2016 and 2018, Smith conducted a series of Chinese music concerts at London’s Cadogan Hall, performing Xian Xinghai’s Yellow River Cantata, choral arrangements of Chinese folk songs, and vocal settings of Tang poetry. He worked in collaboration with Canadian composer David Braid on improvisational performances fusing jazz piano and traditional Chinese music.^[4][5]

Smith has worked with Chinese author Hong Ying composing incidental music for her children’s book The Girl from the French Fort, premiering the work at Beijing Concert Hall in 2016. Smith has also translated several of Hong Ying’s children’s books into English.^[6]

In 2019, Smith's recording of the oratorio Corona Divinae Misericordiae by David Braid with soprano Patricia O'Callaghan was nominated for a Juno Award for 'Classical Album of the Year'.^[7]

In 2020, his recording of works by British composer Ed Hughes with The New Music Players, Ed Hughes: Time, Space & Change, was nominated by The Sunday Times as one of their 'Best Albums of 2020'.^[8]

Appointments

In 2007, Smith was appointed an honorary professor of conducting at the China Conservatory of Music. In 2012, he was appointed an honorary professor of the Tianjin Conservatory of Music. He also serves as a governor of Harrow School, Beijing.^[9]

Personal life

Smith lives in Beijing with his wife, pianist Shen Yue, and their son.^[1]

Compositions and projects

Orchestral

• Tears From My Bowl, 2015
• An Englishman in Beijing, 2015
• Changchun Impressions, 2016
• The Girl From the French Fort, 2016, incidental music to accompany story by Hong Ying

Choral

• Mass for St Barnabas, 1987
• Introit, 1990, text from Psalm 31
• Vegetable Picking Song, 1997, Sichuan folksong arr. for SATB choir
• Rainy Day, 2015, Guangdong folksong arr. for SATB or SSA choir

Vocal

• Two Poems, 1990, text by Robert Frost, (written for Jeremy Huw Williams)
• Love, Friendship and Longing, 2018, Tang poetry arr. for SATB soloists and piano duet

Solo and Chamber Instrumental

• Maluccio, 1990, for organ (written for Andrew Nethsingha)
• Four Microscopic Duets, 1990, piano duet
• Memories of Childhood, 2019, piano duet
• Waiting, 2020, for trumpet and piano^[10]

Arrangements

• Xian Xinghai Music Collection I for Band, 2022, music by Xian Xinghai, arr. for symphonic wind band by Nicholas M Smith

Discography

References