PianoWorks Presents: Whisperings in Concert – Jeff Smith

The album “A Place Called Home” marks the musical return of one of today’s most gifted pianists and composers.

Heralded as a prodigy, Jeff Smith began composing and playing the piano at age two and performing publically at age eight. Jeff has performed on radio and television and throughout the U.S. and Europe. Highlights of his performing career include an orchestral debut in Philadelphia at age 12, performing the Grieg Piano Concerto, and a European tour at age 16 as featured soloist in the Beethoven Chorale Fantasia. His many performances include those at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in New York City, and the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, Germany. Jeff holds a Masters degree and Doctoral studies from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland where he studied with pianists Walter Hautzig and Ann Schein. Jeff also studied with Leon Fleisher as a student in Fleisher’s weekly masterclass. His early teachers included Paul Hofreiter (a student of Vincent Persichetti and Roger Sessions at the Julliard School) and David Sokoloff (a student of Leo Ornstein and Joseph Hoffman at the Curtis Institute of Music).

In recent years Jeff’s performance style has focused primarily on original Classical/New Age and Contemporary piano music. Active as a composer as well as recitalist, Jeff has composed works for television, radio, and film. Works include instrumental music written and recorded for the Madacy Music Group which has been included on over 25 CDs, including compact discs for Thomas Kinkade and others. Eleven of Jeff’s songs were awarded the honor of being included in Madacy’s “Top 20 – Best of Relaxation” album and numerous pieces have been in the EZ- Tracks.com top 10 Nature Songs for well over 5 years. Jeff has also composed music for the television shows “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light” as part of the Grammy Award winning “Radio Theater Group”.

Jeff’s most recent album, “A Place Called Home” represents a return to his greatest musical love: composing at the piano. Inspired by David Nevue and the “Whisperings” collective of pianists, Jeff set out to compose his first ever solo piano album. Jeff writes: “My desire was to allow God to create through me a collection of pieces that would capture the longing of every heart for a place of peace and rest”. ”A Place Called Home” has been nominated for the 2010 Whisperings “Album of the Year”.

Selections from the album can be heard on the Whisperings broadcast at www.solopianoradio.com . The Whisperings collective includes today’s best pianist/composers and has attracted well over one million monthly listeners worldwide.