Timothy Smith is Professor of Piano and head of Piano Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Raised in Seattle, Washington, Smith began private piano studies at age five, and at ten was accepted into the Pre-College division of the Juilliard School. He made his orchestral debut at the age of 15. He then studied under scholarship at the university level with Bela Siki in Seattle and with Martin Canin at Juilliard where he received his Master of Music degree, and later at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, again with Martin Canin, where he was awarded the Doctorate of Musical Arts in 1985. Dr. Smith has won major prizes and recognition in international competitions, including the Casadesus (5th prize), Gina Bachauer (4th prize), Washington, D.C. International (3rd prize), Queen Elizabeth (Brussels) (semi-finalist), among others. As a winner of the Artists International Competition, Smith made his New York recital debut in Carnegie Recital Hall. He has appeared with many orchestras, including the Seattle and Utah Symphonies, the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, as well as orchestras in Anchorage, Japan, and China (see below). Smith has performed on National Public Radio, WQXR-FM (New York), RTB (Belgium), and others. He has taught master classes at universities in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He has performed extensively in Asia, having given nearly 50 concerts there since his first visit in 1987, including many venues in Japan: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, Sapporo, and many others, from Asahigawa in the north to Kure in the south. In the U.S., his students have received honors and recognition in local, state, regional, and national competitions. He has recorded for Seoul Records (Korea), is listed in Who's Who among America's Teachers, and American Keyboard Artists. In addition to teaching piano at UAA, Dr. Smith teaches Chamber Music and Piano Master Class. He served as Department Chairman from 1989 to 2002, at which time he led the department to receive its accreditation with NASM. His first solo recording, Timothy Smith plays Liszt, has been released nationally by Albany Records and is currently available online at http://www.musiciansresource.com. Of this recording, Adrian Corleonis of Fanfare Magazine wrote, "...impressive and towering...one of the more gripping accounts of the (Liszt) Sonata in recent memory."
Smith gave a solo recital in Seattle's Town Hall and was a featured performer on KING-FM radio. He also gave a solo recital and master class at the University of Hawaii. His recent performance of the Khachaturian concerto with the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra was a huge success. Other recent concerts include a solo recital in Nagoya, Japan at the Fushimi Denki Kaikan, a Steinway hall, as well as solo recitals in Santa Barbara, Sacramento, and in Vancouver, B.C. where he was a featured artist on the recital series at the Christchurch Cathedral.
Smith has just returned from China and two performance of a two piano concerto with pianist Sa Chen and the China National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Terje Mikkelsen. The concert was held in the Poly Plaza theatre in Beijing, and it was repeated in the Tianqiao Theatre, also in Beijing, with the Norwegian Prime Minister in attendance. The first concert was videotaped and recently broadcast twice nationally over Chinese Television (CCTV, aka Chinese Central TV.) A link to photos and more information on that concert is here.
Last summer Smith had a very successful month long concert tour of the People's Republic of China, where he gave concerts in Ningbo, Jinan (2), Dongying, Baotou, and in Beijing, where he performed at the large concert hall in the Forbidden City. Master classes were also given in Ningbo, Jinan, Dongying, and Baotou. More information on the concert tour is here. Concert and masterclass photos are here.
Timothy Smith is a Steinway Concert Artist, and is currently Chair of the Department of Music.
Contact info: aftcs [at] uaa.alaska.edu*; phone 907-786-1524
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