Julia Frances Smithaus modern

Julia Frances Smith (* 25 January 1905 in Denton, Texas; † 27 April 1989 in New York City) was an American composer and pianist.

Life

In her youth, Smith took lessons from Harold von Mickwitz at the Institute of Musical Art in Dallas. She then studied at North Texas State Teachers College and from 1932 to 1939 at the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied composition with Rubin Goldmark and Frederick Jacobi and piano with Carl Friedberg. At New York University she earned a master’s degree (1933) and a doctorate (1952). Her dissertation Aaron Copland: His Work and Contribution to American Music was published in New York in 1955. Her book Master Pianist: The Career and Teaching of Carl Friedberg was published in 1963.

From 1933 to 1942, Smith was a member of the Orchestrette Classique of New York, a women’s orchestra founded by Frédérique Petrides, which premiered several of her compositions. Smith composed the opera Cynthia Parker for the centenary celebrations of the state of Texas, the performance of which in 1939 brought her to the attention of a wider audience. In addition to five other operas, she composed a symphony, two orchestral suites, a wind overture, a piano concerto, chamber music works, piano pieces, choral works and songs.

From 1935 Smith taught at the Hamlin School in New Jersey, from 1940 to 1942 at the Juilliard School. In 1941 she founded the Department of Music Education at Hartt College, which she headed until 1949. From 1946 to 1948 she also taught at the Teachers College of Connecticut. Seit den 1950er Jahren setzte sie sich verstärkt für die Förderung von Komponistinnen in den USA ein. As early as 1951, she organised a concert with works by Marion Bauer. Together with Merle Montgomery, she organised a concert of works by American women composers at the Musicians Club in New York at the end of the 1960s. Als Vorsitzende der American Women Composers veröffentlichte sie 1970 ihr Directory of American Women Composers. Von 1970 bis 1979 war sie Leiterin des Decade of Women Committee der National Federation of Music Clubs.

Daneben war sie stets weiter als Komponistin aktiv. Zur Amtseinführung von Lyndon B. Johnson 1965 entstand Remember the Alamo!, ihre letzte Oper Daisy basiert auf dem Leben von Juliette Gordon Low, der Gründerin der Girl Scouts in den USA.
Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Smith_(composer)