Praised by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a “rising star”, composer Elijah Daniel Smith is quickly establishing himself as one of today’s leading young composers. His music, which has been described as “gnashing and relentless” (Chicago Tribune), “Seductive” (Gramophone), and as “an ingenious study in clarity and distortion” (San Francisco Classical Voice), ranges from orchestral compositions to multimedia and interdisciplinary collaborations. Elijah’s affinity for dense and complex textures, rhythmic ambiguity and fluidity, and rich gravitational harmonies shines through in all of his creations. His music has been premiered and performed by world renowned ensembles including The Chicago Symphony Orchestra for MusicNOW, the American Composers Orchestra, the New England Philharmonic, the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Contemporaneous, JACK Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, Sō Percussion, Sandbox Percussion, Lorelei Ensemble, Yarn / Wire, ~Nois, DITHER, Copland House, Ensemble Linea, Ecce Ensemble, the Lea Mattson Collective, and Earspace. Upcoming projects include new works for TAK Ensemble, Hub New Music, the American Composers Orchestra, and a new octet for Sō Percussion and ~Nois.
Elijah is the Composition Studies and Ensemble 20/21 Associate at the Curtis Institute of Music, and he is currently pursuing his PhD in Music Composition at Princeton University as a President’s Fellow. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition from the Boston Conservatory in 2017, and a Master of Music degree in Music Composition from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in 2020. Elijah’s music is published by Project Schott New York.