In Friday’s (3/5) Richmond Times-Dispatch, Zachary Reid reports, “The Richmond Symphony ended its 18-month search for a new music director yesterday, naming Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus Director Steven Smith to lead the 70-member orchestra. Smith’s official debut will be an April 24 concert featuring violinist Gil Shaham, but it won’t be his first performance here. One of nine finalists from a field of 240 applicants, Smith has twice led the orchestra, including last weekend when he presided over a Masterworks program of Beethoven and Shostakovich works. He also was here in November 2008. … Smith replaces Mark Russell Smith, who led the symphony for 10 years. He’s now the artistic director for orchestral studies at the University of Minnesota. Steven Smith, an Ohio native, has been music director in Santa Fe since 1999. He is also music director for the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. He has worked with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Brevard Music Festival. … Smith has master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music.”
Posted March 5, 2010
