Welcome to guitarist / composer Steve Smith's Archives!

This is fairly thorough listing of the many works I have performed.
Feel free to route through - they offer a fairly wide ranging picture of life as a multiple-personality guitar player! Whose experience is as wide ranging as it has been interesting.
A lot of the references have links to either recordings or artists, with more to come over time.

There are also links to my scores, these can be found on the joanB music pages; - where they can be viewed using the unique 'FLIPPAGE' browsing system.
Scores available as PDF downloads or professionally bound. You can also navigate to specific scores using the pull-down menus above. More scores added over time - check back frequently!

There is also a scattering of audio files amongst these pages to sample. Mostly Steve Smith material, to get the full range of down loadable audio files go to joanBsongs - where you can download all my available music and pay securely with

Thanks for looking and if there's anything here you'd like to ask me about, please drop me a line. email me

Steve Smith - Chamber Music

Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera) – Kurt Weill
Banjo, guitar, accordion - (only on earlier outings)

Frank Zappa
guitars / mandolin with chamber orchestra. Two separate tours With the Britten Sinfonia, conductors Rumon Gamba and Stefan Astbury.

American Invention - Steve Martland
bass guitar. Music Projects London, Bernas at Union Chapel, Islington, London N1.

Voices – Hans Werner Henze
guitar/banjo/various other instruments. Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Cordial Company
mixed ensemble of voices, guitar, harp, bass, keys, perc. I played guitar, mandolin, banjos, guitar synths, piano and percussion, and made numerous special arrangements for the group. Concerts throughout the UK.

Petr Eben
chamber works with lute.

Songs for Dov – Sir Michael Tippett
recording for 4 television, Nigel Robson tenor, and London Sinfonietta conducted by the composer.

SOUNDPOOL
Concert performances of works by Richard Causton, William Walton, Edward McGuire, and others with Nancy Ruffer flute, Bridget Crouch viola, Nicole Tibbels soprano.

Gnarly Buttons - John Adams
G-banjo / mandolin / guitar. Premiere of clarinet concerto with London Sinfonietta, Michael Collins and John Adams, Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre, London. Also recording for Nonsuch records. Further performances in Sweden, Portugal, USA and Scotland.

Kammermusik - Hans Werner Henze
Solo guitar with tenor and chamber orchestra. With London Sinfonietta, conductor Markus Stenz and The Nash Ensemble, Martin Brabbins at the Aldeburgh Festival and BBC Radio 3.

Der Jahre Auf - Karlheinz Stockhausen
electric guitar with ensemble, Music Projects London, conducted by Richard Bernas

Refrain - Franco Donatoni
guitar with chamber group. Music Projects London, Bernas BBC Radio 3 recording.

Ancient Voices of Children - George Crumb
detuned mandolin in small ensemble with male and female voices. London Sinfonietta and others, John Adams.

Meditation on the Light - Sir John Tavener
guitar, countertenor and hand bells, Spitalfields Festival & BBC Radio3.

Scipio's Dream - Judith Weir
guitar in music theatre piece. Endymion Ensemble, Purcell Room, London.

Cry, the Beloved Country, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Happy End - Kurt Weill
tenor banjo / mandolin / guitar. Matrix Ensemble, Robert Zeigler for BBC TV. London Sinfonietta with HK Gruber.

Libra - Roberto Gerhard
guitar with chamber group. Nash Ensemble Bath International Festival, BBC Radio 3.

Banana Blush – Jim Parker
various instruments. Jim Parker with the Nash Ensemble at Bath Festival.

Electric CounterPoint – Steve Reich
electric guitar ensemble. London premiere of full live version, Steve Smith, Nancy Ruff and friends Guitars;
Steve Smith
Mitch Dalton
Stuart Hall
John Parricelli
Richard Wright
Colin Downes
Adrian Lee
Nigel Woodhouse
Forbes Henderson
Howard Haigh
Roland Gallery

Basses;
John Lunn
Graham Burton Purcell Room, South Bank, London 4/02/92.

Messages of the Late Miss RV Troussova - György Kurtág
mandolin, cello-like instrument? London Sinfonietta.

Siete Canciones / Seven Spanish Folk Songs - Manuel de Falla arranged by Steve Smith
guitar with high voice. With mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby, at the Wigmore Hall, London, as part of Nash Ensemble Spanish Programme.

La Cubana - Hans Werner Henze
guitar / mandolin / banjo. UK premiere with Nash Ensemble, conducted by the composer at the Wigmore Hall, London.

woman.life.song - Judith Weir
guitar with chamber orchestra. UK premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, London. BBC Promenade Concerts with Jessye Norman, the London Sinfonietta, conducted by David Robertson.

Luimen - Elliot Carter
guitar in small chamber group. Contains the solo 'Shard' taken from the larger work. UK premiere London Sinfonietta, conductor Oliver Knussen at the Cheltenham Festival.

Kammermusik - Hans Werner Henze
guitar with tenor and chamber orchestra. Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Nigel Robson tenor. Concert performance National Concert Hall, Dublin.

Kantri Music - Mauricio Kagel
tenor banjo / guitar in chamber ensemble. Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, conductor Oliver Knussen at Suvisoitto 'Summer Sounds' Festival and YLE Radio broadcast.

Steve Smith - Orchestral

Éclass – Pierre Boulez
mandolin. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle.

7th Symphony – Gustav Mahler
mandolin, CBSO, Rattle. various venues, including Aldeburgh & Edinburgh Festivals and recording.

Moses and Aaron - Arnold Schoenberg
mandolin. BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Edinburgh International Festival.

Carl Davis Film Music
guitar. With the composer and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin
tenor banjo. Countless performances with amongst others; BBC Concert Orchestra, Wordsworth, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Wayne Marshall and BBC Orchestra of Wales.

Grabstein für Stephan, - György Kurtág
Solo guitar with orchestra. With London Sinfonietta, conductor Markus Stenz and with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conductor Sir Simon Rattle.

The Trilogy of The Last Day - Louis Andriessen
Electric guitar with orchestra. UK premiere with London Sinfonietta, conductor Oliver Knussen. Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Mahler 7th Symphony
guitar. With CBSO, Rattle tours to USA and Far East.

Blood on the Floor / Kai - Mark-Anthony Turnage
Electric guitar and bass guitar in orchestra. With Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, conductor Sakari Oramo - Suvisoitto Summer Festival, Porvoo, Finland.

Gruppen - Karlheinz Stockhausen
Electric guitar in one of four orchestras. CBSO, Rattle; Birmingham, Vienna, London and for Channel 4 TV.

Malher 7th Symphony
mandolin. Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor ?, Finlandia House.

Steve Smith - Recordings

Concerto for 2 Mandolins – Antonio Vivaldi
BBCSSO conductor Jerzy Maksymiuk, for BBC2 TV 'Music in Camera' series. Kenneth Heggie, Steve Smith mandolins.

Songs for Dov – Sir Michael Tippett
electric guitar with chamber orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, SCO, recording Virgin Classics.

Kiss me Kate, Gershwin, Kern, Porter: Overtures, Film Music.
guitar/banjo EMI Recordings John McGlinn and London Sinfonietta.

The Boyfriend Suite - Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies
ukelele / mandolin / guitar with chamber / jazz band. Aquarius Nicholas Cleobury, recording for Collins. Also, at the official opening of Stansted Airport, with Paul Daniel? conducting.

Don Giovanni - W.A. Mozart
mandolin. English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Elliot Gardiner. Italy, Germany, UK, Holland and recording for EMI.

New Year - Sir Michael Tippett
electric guitar. UK premiere at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, LPO Sir Andrew Davis.

The Ice Break - Sir Michael Tippett
electric guitar. BBC Promenade Concert performance, London Sinfonietta and Voices, cond. David Atherton and premiere recording for Virgin Classics.

Capricorn
guitar. recording of Danish Composer, Karl Aage Rassmussen for Danish Composers Label

Temp'est – James Dillon
electric guitar in small chamber group. With Music Projects London, Richard Bernas. BBC TV production.

Brush up Your Shakespeare from 'Kiss me Kate' – Cole Porter
Steve Smith arrangement for BBC Look North TV.

Dream Window - Toru Takemitsu
guitar with orchestra. London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen recording for Deutsche Grammophon.

Butterflies, Dreams and Rhymes - Jim Parker
guitar. Film with music by Jim Parker with The Nash Ensemble.

Berlin Cabaret Songs - Ute Lemper
tenor banjo / guitar. Recording with the Matrix Ensemble, Robert Zeigler for Decca Music Group Records.

Kammermusik - Hans Werner Henze
Solo guitar with tenor and chamber orchestra. With London Sinfonietta, conductor Markus Stenz and The Nash Ensemble, Martin Brabbins at the Aldeburgh Festival and BBC Radio 3.

Ondine - Hans Werner Henze
solo guitar with orchestra. With London Sinfonietta, conductor Oliver Knussen recording for Deutsche Gramophon.

Leaving Home - CBSO / Rattle / Channel 4 TV
Series of programme for Channel 4 exploring the quest for expression sought by 20th Century composers. Stravinsky, Debussy, Shostakovich, Bartok, Kurtag, Stockhausen, etc, etc.

Electric Counterpoint - Steve Reich
electric guitar / bass and tape. Recording of taped tracks at Sibelius Academy. Several perfomances including; Isleworth Festival, UK and the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki Finland.

In Mood of Spades Suite no. 1 and In Memory of.... - Per Nørgård
guitar solo, guitar and cello. Performance at Aldeburgh International Festival, in portrait concert.

Through the Looking Glass - Viktoria Mullova
guitars. Recording and tour with arrangements by Matthew Barley from pop and jazz.

Steve Smith - Dance Works

Still Life at the Penguin Café – music Simon Jeffes
guitar. Birmingham Royal Ballet, Covert Garden and on tour.

Romeo and Juliet – Serge Prokofiev
mandolin, Royal Ballet, Covert Garden.

Ondine - Hans Werner Henze
guitar solo with orchestra - Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, various venues.

Winter Dreams, Agon, Porgy and Bess
Royal Ballet and Royal Opera. various instruments.

The Golden Age - Dimitri Shostakovich
guitar / mandolin / slide 'hawaiian' guitar. Recording CBSO conductor Mark Elder. Performances Bolshoi Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall.

Tales of Beatrix Potter - music by John Lanchbery
tenor banjo solo in 'Miss Tiggywinkle'. Many performances with Royal Ballet, Lanchbery conducting.

Gnarly Buttons - John Adams
G-banjo / mandolin / guitar. Premiere of clarinet concerto with London Sinfonietta, Michael Collins and John Adams, Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Cebtre, London. Also recording for Nonsuch records. Further performances in Sweden, Portugal, USA and Scotland.

The Return of Don Juan - Kim Helweg
amplified guitar with small chamber group. Ballet with Irek Mukhamedov, by Kim Brandstrup for ARC Dance Company at Saddlers Wells Theatre.

Steve Smith - Operas

The Knot Garden – Sir Michael Tippett
electric guitar, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sian Edwards.

Elegy for Young Lovers - Hans Werner Henze
chamber opera with guitar ( I played celeste though!), Almeida Ensemble, Rupert Bawden, conductor.

The Ice Break - Sir Michael Tippett
electric guitar. BBC Promenade Concert performance, London Sinfonietta and Voices, cond. David Atherton and premiere recording for Virgin Classics.

Don Giovanni – W.A. Mozart
mandolin. CBSO Sir Simon Rattle, concert performance.

Don Giovanni, Don Pasquale, The Merry Widow
Opera 80. touring opera productions. various instruments.

Don Giovanni - W.A. Mozart
mandolin. English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Elliot Gardiner. Italy, Germany, UK, Holland and recording for EMI.

Broken Strings - Param Vir
guitar with chamber group in opera. UK premiere with London Sinfonietta, Markus Stenz at The Almeida Opera Festival, London.

Lulu - Alban Berg
tenor banjo. Glyndebourne Festival Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis. And DVD recording.

I was Looking at the Ceiling and then I saw the Sky - John Adams
Electric guitar in musical / opera. UK Tour Southwark Playhouse, Royal Opera House, Lindbury Studio.

The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - Kurt Weill
tenor banjo / guitar / 'hawaiian' slide guitar. BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor HK Gruber. Concert performances in Geneva.

'Songs for Achilles' from King Priamread a review - Sir Michael Tippett
guitar in opera. BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conductor David Atherton. BBC Promenade Concert performance at the Royal Albert Hall and BBC Radio 3.

Steve Smith - First Performances

The Knot Garden – Sir Michael Tippett (first performance with electric guitar)
electric guitar, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sian Edwards.

Love Songs – Richard Rodney Bennett
guitar with tenor & orchestra. BBC Philharmonis, Robert Tear, Edward Downes, Free Trade Hall, Manchester

Electric CounterPoint – Steve Reich
electric guitar ensemble. London premiere of full live version, Steve Smith, Nancy Ruffer and friends Guitars;
Steve Smith
Mitch Dalton
Stuart Hall
John Parricelli
Richard Wright
Colin Downes
Adrian Lee
Nigel Woodhouse
Forbes Henderson
Howard Haigh
Roland Gallery

Basses;
John Lunn
Graham Brierton Purcell Room, South Bank, London 4/02/92.

Waterloo Sunset - composer Robin Walker?
Premiere of work based on by the Kinks electric guitar in small chamber group. Manchester University, Great Hall?

Meditation on the Light - Sir John Tavener
guitar, countertenor and hand bells, Spitalfields Festival & BBC Radio3.

New Year - Sir Michael Tippett
electric guitar. UK premiere at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, LPO Sir Andrew Davis.

Commissions from Finnish TV channel YLE
Songs written for 2 series, including Finnish version of 'Teletubbies'.

Shrouded Mirrors - James Dillon
guitar solo. Finnish premiere at Musiikin aika 'Time of Music' festival, Viitasaari, Finland.

Steve Smith - Premieres of Own Works

Go tango! - Steve Smith
Premiere at the British Music Festival, British Music Information Centre, Stratford Place, London, 15/7/89. Nancy Ruffer flute, Steve Smith guitar, Elizabeth Davis marimba, percussion Martin Allen.

Hommage à L'Étéview the score - Steve Smith
Premiere by The Alpha Duo, Library Theatre, Manchester ?/1/84. First broadcast, Granada TV, ?/7/84.

Aphrodite's Danceclick to listen - Steve Smith
Premiere by The Alpha Duo. First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 16/1/87.

Dinosaurs - The Musical - Steve Smith
First performance of children's musical. Redbridge Green Fair 1991.

Savannah Soulview the score - Steve Smith
Written for the Elefriends charity at a gala concert in London, presented by Joanna Lumley. Performed by John Lunn bass, Steve Smith guitar, Kevin Hathway marimba and Chris Barron drums, with singers from English National Opera.

Commissions from YLE Finnish TV Channel
Songs written for 2 series, including Finnish version of 'Teletubbies'.

Another Chance to Slip, Goes Down....view the score - Steve Smith
Premiere of banjo concerto with Jyväskylä Chamber Orchestra, Heikki Rautasalo conductor, Jyväskylä, Finland 5/12/98.

A Particular Peak - Steve Smith
Premiere of mandolin concerto with Mikkeli Chamber Orchestra, Heikki Rautasalo conductor, Mikkeli, Finland 24/08/2000.

3,4,6,12,14,22,144n.o.view the score - Steve Smith
Premiere Ihastjärvi, Finland. Anu Jävela violin, Steve Smith guitar 26/8/2000.

Blue Tomatoview the score - Steve Smith
guitar and flute. Finnish premiere at Musiikin aika 'Time of Music' festival, Viitasaari, Finland.

Blue Tomato, Go tango!, Funfair on a Single Malt and Café Ursula 1995 - Steve Smith
US premieres Washington, DC and Fredericksburg, VA, Columbus OH.

Underground- Steve Smith
Commission and premiere of film score to accompany Anthony Asquith's Underground, at the National Gallery of the Arts, Washington DC, USA 30/7/2006. David Jones clarinets, Mark Evans cello and Steve Smith piano / keyboard.

Steve Smith 4TET
Formation of quartet, launch gig at the Helsinki Festival, 'Art Goes Kappaka'.

Agon - Igor Stravinsky
Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, conductor Oliver Knussen at Suvisoitto 'Summer Sounds' Festival.

Director of Guitar Studies, Duke Ellington School of the Arts - 2003-6

YLE2 Wintteri theme music commission
Finnish TV chat show, 8 episodes.

Steve Smith - Others

Nicholas Nickleby – music Stephen Oliver
guitar, banjo? RSC Touring Production, Manchester.

Godspell - Stephen Schwartz
rock musical with electric guitar. Touring Production.

Hit Factory, Snake Ranch
various jingle sessions, composer Paul Hart.

West Side Story – Leonard Bernstein
electric guitar in musical. BBC Ulster Orchestra. Youth Theatre Production for concert performance.

Scapin - Roel Van Oosten
solo guitar. Performed in dancer Matthew Hawkins' choreography 'Matthew and Diana on Manoeuvres'. UK tour and Dance Umbrella at the Hackney Empire, London.

Sibelius Academy Improvisation Courses
Workshop leader on courses in Kuhmo, and Helsinki Finland.

In One Single Moment - Sir John Tavener
London Sinfonietta education project in Pentonville Prison, London.

Howard Shore Film Score Sessions
acoustic / electric guitars. At CTS studios with LPO and Howard Shore.

Playaway
guitar. Sessions for BBC Children’s TV programme, BBC Oxford Road, Manchester.

Piaf
musical review of the singer's life and music, York Theatre Royal.

Alpha Guitar Duo
numerous concert appearances around UK. Two recording The Alpha Duo (1984) and The Alpha Duo Play Gershwin and Joplin (1987).

Royal College of Music Junior Department, 20th Century Studies
Tutor of guitar technology and guitar syntheziser from 1987-90.

The Alchemist
guitars / mandolin. Music to accompany staging of Ben Johnson play. Birmingham Repetory Theatre and at the Royal National Theatre, London.

SOUNDSCAPE
Tutor of guitar technology and guitar syntheziser at music technology Summer scool at the University of East Anglia.

Solo guitar recitals around UK; Manchester, Stoke, Liverpool, etc

Shiva Nova
multi cultural improvisation, Artistic Director Priti Paintal.

Film Sessions - Howard Shore
guitar/mandolin. London Philharmonic Orchestra, CTS Studios.

Brass Injection
Jazz fusion band with fellow students of the Royal Northern College of Music; Weather Report, Earth Wind and Fire, Steely Dan etc,

The Elastic Band
childrens concerts / programmes. Leader Chris Bradley

Sessions - CTS studios
jingles etc.

Showboat - Rodgers and Hammerstein
guitar in musical. Opera North / RSC production, Theatre Royal, Stratford-on-Avon and The Grand Theatre, Leeds.

Metropolis - Martin Matalon
Fretless and fretted basses. Score written to accompany 'Metropolis' by Fritz Lang. Live band synced to click track pre-recorded material. Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and IRCAM, conductor Ernest Martinez-Izquierdo. Performances, Helsinki and Paris.

Donal Leace
guitars. Appearances with singer / songwriter and former civil rights artist.

Royal Netherlands Embassy, Washington, DC
Commission to create spring concert programme. Formation of concert of music spanning four centuries. Includes music by,

Aldeburgh Festival
Solo electric guitar and tape show. Reich Electric Counterpoint, Tim Brady Memory Riot and Paul Lansky Dancetracks