Barry Smith (organist)

Barry Smith (born 1939) is a South African organist, choral and orchestral conductor, author, and musicologist.

Early life and education

Born in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, Smith was a choirboy at St Mary's Collegiate Church.cite web
url=http://www.cpo.org.za/calendar/2624/cape-philharmonic-oratorio-festival
title=Cape Philharmonic Oratorio Festival
accessdate=2008-07-04
publisher=Cape philharmonic orchestra] In 1956, Smith was awarded a scholarship to Rhodes University in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape Province, where he completed his Ph.D. degree. In 1960, Smith went to the United Kingdom on scholarship to the Royal School of Church Music.

Work

Smith then returned to South Africa to serve as Director of Music for two years at the Michaelhouse senior school for boys in KwaZulu-Natal province. In 1964, Smith was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers of St George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, a post he held until 2006 for a record forty-two years. [cite web
url=http://www.stgeorgescathedral.com/music.html
title=Cathedral Music
accessdate=2008-07-04
publisher=St George's Cathedral, Cape Town
quote=Barry Smith was appointed as Organist and Master of the Choristers in 1964 - the first South African to hold this position, in which he continued for 42 years.]

From 1966 to 1999, Smith was on the staff of the Faculty of Music at the University of Cape Town, from which university he also holds a DMus degree. In 1964, Smith founded the St. George's Singers, which he still directs. Besides conducting in the United Kingdom, Austria, and Israel, Smith has made several solo recital tours both in America and England where he has played in many prestigious venues, including Westminster Abbey and King's College, Cambridge.

He has adjudicated in Hong Kong and directed music courses in Perth, Australia and in Washington D.C. In June 2007, Smith and his St George's Singers took part in the Sir Edward Elgar 150th Anniversary Celebrations in Worcester, England, where he also conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Worcester Cathedral.

Honours and awards

In 1989 Archbishop Desmond Tutu awarded Smith with the Order of Simon of Cyrene, the highest honour the Anglican Church of Southern Africa can bestow on a layman.

Smith has received honorary fellowships from the Guild of Church Musicians in the United Kingdom in 1989 [cite web
url=http://www.churchmusicians.org/officer.html
title=Officers of the guild
accessdate=2008-07-04
publisher=The Guild of Church Musicians
quote=HONORARY FELLOWS [...] 1989Dr Barry Smith] , the Royal School of Church Music in 1994, and the Academy of St Cecilia in 2008 [cite web
url=http://www.academyofsaintcecilia.com/members/honorary.htm
title=Honorary Members of the Academy
accessdate=2008-08-06
publisher=Academy of St Cecilia] .

Publications

The Oxford University Press published his major new biography of the English composer Peter Warlock (Philip Heseltine) in 1994 to mark the centenary of his birth "Peter Warlock: The Life of Philip Heseltine" (Oxford University Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0-19-816606-1) [cite web
url=http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198166061
title=Peter Warlock: The Life of Philip Heseltine. Barry Smith
accessdate=2008-07-04
publisher=Oxford University Press] .

Since then he has published three further books on Warlock, including as editor of "Frederick Delius and Peter Warlock: A Friendship Revealed" (Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-19-816706-8) [cite web
url=http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198167068
title=Frederick Delius and Peter Warlock: A Friendship Revealed. Edited by Barry Smith
accessdate=2008-07-04
publisher=Oxford University Press] , and the four-volume "The Collected Letters of Peter Warlock" (Woodbridge, 2005) [cite web
url=http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/britmusic1.htm
title=Collected Letters of Peter Warlock
accessdate=2008-07-04
publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd] .

References

External links

* [http://purl.org/music/barrysmith Barry Smith's site]
*cite web
url=http://www.stgeorgescathedral.com/sermons/chivers-barry.html
title=Barry Smith and the music of freedom (2004-04-18 sermon)
accessdate=2008-07-07
last=Chivers
first=Chris
publisher=The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr
*cite web
url=http://www.stgeorgescathedral.com/sermons/hillorgan.html
title=The Hill Organ in St George's Cathedral, Cape Town
accessdate=2008-07-07
last=Smith
first=Barry
publisher=The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr