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The English viola da gamba and cello player, Robert Smith, studied Music at Bangor University. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Viola da gamba playing with Honours from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (Class of 2007). He also studied there Baroque Cello. He studied viola de gamba with Mieneke van der Velden (Amsterdam) and Paolo Pandolfo (Basel). He also studied Baroque cello with Wouter Möller, Jaap ter Linden and Viola da Hoog. He won the Bach-Abel Viola da Gamba Competition in Köthen in 2012.
Since then, Robert Smith's life as a basso-continuo player and soloist has taken him down many interesting and varied paths. He has regularly criss-crossed Europe from his home in Amsterdam to play Baroque music with many leading ensembles and orchestras. He is a member of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Director: Ton Koopman) and with his own ensemble Fantasticus he has recorded critically acclaimed CD's for Resonus Classics.
In music as in life Robert Smith likes to get off the beaten path. His CD's often feature previously unrecorded repertoire such as the lyra-viol music on "Tickle the Minikin" and the virtuoso Jenkins duets with his former teacher Paolo Pandolfo on "The Excellency of Hand". He enjoys exploring different genres of music and working with artists from other disciplines. This has led to interesting performances such as playing Metallica songs for death-defying acrobats in historical circus tents.
As a solo player Robert Smith has had live concerts broadcast by BBC Radio 3, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and worked as a soloist for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 2017, he released one of the first ever recordings of Georg Philipp Telemann's newly discovered Fantasias for solo viola da gamba, which The Observer reviewed as “playing of exceptional quality”. His 2019 release “La Gracieuse” with music by Marin Marais was Gramophone Magazine's Editor’s Choice.
Robert Smith plays on a bass viola da gamba made by Pierre Bohr in Milan. His Baroque cello made by Guust Francois is loaned to him by the Dutch Nationaal Muziekinstrumentenfonds. He currently lives in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands. |
