Richmond Symphony names new music director

Steven Smith is a Toledo, Ohio, native, who succeeds former music director Mark Russell Smith.

By: Zachary Reid | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: March 05, 2010

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.

"We hired him as a conductor, but also as a leader," said David J.L. Fisk, executive director of the symphony. "I think when you hire a new leader, he'll come in and build on what the previous leader did, and we're excited about that.

"We're going to re-evaluate all of our relationships and our programs," Fisk said. "It gives us a great sense of solidity, of stability. It's going to give us confidence as we begin to plan the next five to 10 years."

Fisk said ending the search for a new conductor was a "great sense of accomplishment."

"Anytime you have to search for a new artistic leader, it's exhaustive," he said. "But it caps a great year for us. We moved back into our home [at the Carpenter Theatre at Richmond CenterStage], and we have a new artistic leader."

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 Symphony Orchestra, the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Brevard Music Festival.

"The elements that make orchestral music vital to a community are particularly abundant in Richmond: talented and enthusiastic musicians, a supportive and expanding audience, and a welcoming home at CenterStage," he said in a statement. "I see these attributes combining in powerful ways to create shared, meaningful experiences."

Smith has master's degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He and his wife, Stacia Lewandowski, also a musician, will move to the Richmond area in the coming months.

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or zreid@timesdispatch.com.