Dmitri Smirnov - Associate Composer

Commissions include works for the LSO, London Sinfonietta, Nash Ensemble, Fretwork, Legrand Ensemble, L'Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, English String Orchestra, Amsterdam Wind Ensemble and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Dmitri Smirnov entered the Moscow Conservatory in 1967 where he studied with Nikolai Sidelnikov, Edison Denisov and Philip Herschkowitz. His works have been conducted internationally both in the UK and abroad by Martin Brabbins, Andrew Davis, Dennis Russell Davies, Oliver Knussen, Pavel Kogan, Vassily Sinaisky, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Gunther Schuller, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Guillaume Tourniare. In 1979 he was blacklisted as one of 'Krennikov's Seven' at the 6th Congress of the Union of Soviet Composers. He was one of the founders of Russia's new Association for Contemporary Music, established in Moscow in 1990. Performances of his music include those at the Almeida Festival (London), Freiburg Festival (Germany), Tanglewood Festival (USA) and the Pforzheim Festival (Germany).

Since 1991 Dmitri Smirnov has lived and worked in Britain. He was Composer-in-residence at Cambridge University (St John's College), Dartington (Devon) and Visiting Professor at Keele University. He and his family (he is married to composer Elena Firsova) settled in St Albans in 1998. He has taught at Goldsmiths College, University of London since 2003. Many of Smirnov's works reflect his fascination with the poetry and art of William Blake. His music is available through Boosey & Hawkes (London), Hans Sikorski (Hamburg), G Schimer (New York) and Melodina Press (UK).  His book "A Geometer of Sound Crystals" (English Edition only) ssm 34 (studia slavica musicologica, vol. 34), was published by Ernst Kuhn in 2003.

"Denisov taught that you can say big things very quietly" Dmitri Smirnov