Grigory Smirnov

Grigōry Smirnōv is a composer and pianist based in New York. His compositions have been performed worldwide in major venues, such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, Moscow Philharmonic Hall. His CD album Dowson Songs • Chaconne, released by Naxos Records in 2016, featuring the song cycle "Dowson Songs" commissioned by The ASCAP Foundation and performed by tenor Martin Bakari, was named a "Critic's Choice" by Opera News magazine. Grigory Smirnov's music has been broadcasted on various radio stations and programmed in numerous festivals internationally, such as Tanglewood Festival (USA), Brevard Music Center (USA), Composers Now (USA), International Diaghilev Festival (Russia), ppIANISSIMO (Bulgaria), Chamber Music Sessions (Ukraine), CTAM Festival (Russia), Blue Lake Summer Arts Festival (USA). Over the recent years, he has been closely working with Eurythmy Spring Valley — the performing ensemble and school — both as a pianist and composer.

Born in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia, Grigory Smirnov studied as a pianist at the Novosibirsk Music College and as a composer at the Glinka Novosibirsk State Conservatory, in the studio of Yuri Yukechev. During the early years of his artistic path in Russia, he was awarded a composition prize at the IV Prokofiev International Competition and had his music performed by the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2008 he came to the United States where he completed his graduate studies at The Juilliard School in 2011, in the studio of Christopher Rouse. He was a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow in 2011.

As a pianist, Grigory Smirnov performs classical, improvisational music and his own compositions. As a music educator, he has served on the faculty at various institutions, including Rutgers University, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Lindeblad School of Music and Eurythmy Spring Valley.

"Grigory Smirnov is an exceptionally talented composer with a unique voice. I think his music is extremely beautiful and powerful." — John Corigliano

"Grigory Smirnov's music is very heartfelt; it has a sense of timelessness. It continues to explore eternal questions: life, love, death, gains, losses, the subtlest movements of the human soul. It has no open stylistic declarations, clearly expressed positions and trends; in it we can really hear the vulnerable, sensitive and subtle soul of the artist." — Mikhail Kazinik