Flute (former BSO);Flute (former BSO)
Fenwick Smith, second flutist of the BSO from 1978 to 2006, spent five of those years as acting assistant principal flute.
A member of the Boston Chamber Music Society since 1984, he has also performed on baroque flute with Boston’s leading early music ensembles, and was for 13 years a member of the contemporary music ensemble Boston Musica Viva.
After more than thirty seasons, his annual Jordan Hall recitals are a prominent feature of Boston’s concert calendar. As a concerto soloist Smith has introduced to Boston audiences Lukas Foss’s Renaissance Concerto and the flute concertos of John Harbison and Christopher Rouse. His discography includes premiere recordings of works by Copland, Foote, Gaubert, Ginastera, Koechlin, Dahl, Schulhoff, Schoenberg, Harbison, Cage, Pinkham, Rorem, and Reinecke.
Smith states: “My teaching tends to be analytical and specific. Areas of particular interest to me include the player’s physical motion, and the ways it can help or hinder performance; the production and musicianly use of vibrato, and the control and use of intonation and tone color to enhance expressivity. While I consider myself a generalist, and am interested in all kinds of good music for the flute, I am particularly fond of the French baroque repertoire.”
Smith retired from the BSO in August 2006, and has taken on an expanded teaching commitment at the Conservatory. Verne Q. Powell Flutes, Inc., where earlier in his career Smith worked as a flute maker, plans to sponsor him in masterclasses and recitals, nationally and internationally, as an emissary of the company. Smith also looks forward to further concertizing and recording, and to the pursuit of his many extra-musical interests. In 2008, Smith was named Musician of the Year by the Boston Musicians's Association.
B.M., Eastman School of Music. Flute with Joseph Mariano. Recordings on Nonesuch, Hyperion, Koch, Naxos. Visiting professor of flute at University of Michigan School of Music (1997–98). Also faculty of Tanglewood Music Center. 2001 recipient of NEC's Laurence Lesser Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Photo by Andrew Hurlbut
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2012-07-02
Contact Fenwick Smith
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