Hailed as a “rising star” by The WholeNote, violinist Gillian Smith’s musical activities have taken her across Canada and beyond, including on recent tour to Toronto and Yellowknife with pianist Jennifer King featuring performances in Toronto at the Canadian Music Centre and the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and in Yellowknife at the Prince of Wales Northern Cultural Centre. This tour was supported by funding from Arts Nova Scotia and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Gillian’s album Into the Stone, which was released on the Leaf Music label in 2019, features works for solo violin by Kati Agócs, Alice Ping Yee Ho, Veronika Krausas, Chantale Laplante, and Ana Sokolović. David Olds of The WholeNote called Into the Stone “a stunning debut album”, and La Scena Musicale wrote of the album, “Gillian Smith demonstrates a great skill and mastery…magnificently appropriates Canadian repertoire”. Into the Stone was nominated for an ECMA award for Classical Recording of the Year in 2020. This recording was supported by funding from FACTOR.
Her second album of Canadian music for solo violin, En Route, also on the Leaf Music label (2023), features works commissioned from Amy Brandon, Carmen Braden, Derek Charke, Corie Rose Soumah, and Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu. This recording was support by funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.
She can also be heard on In Sonorous Falling Tones, which features the music of Derek Charke and was nominated for an ECMA for Classical Recording of the Year in 2018, and on a recording of the chamber music of Carmen Braden, Songs of the Invisible Summer Stars, which was released on the Centrediscs label in September 2019. The American Record Guide wrote of Songs of the Invisible Summer Stars, “exquisitely and beautifully performed, this is a gem”. Songs of the Invisible Summer Stars was nominated for an ECMA for Classical Recording of the Year in 2020.
She has performed at the Acadia University School of Music Concert and Lecture Series, Inner Space Concerts, Music Room Chamber Players, Musique Royale, Open Waters Festival, Shattering the Silence Festival, Sunday Music in the Garden Room, and others.
Gillian’s solo and chamber music recordings can be heard on radio in Canada, the U.S., and beyond, including on CBC Radio’s About Time and In Concert.
Gillian served as instructor of violin and viola at the Acadia University School of Music and teaches at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. Her students have won top prizes in national competitions, including the Canadian Music Competition.
She holds degrees in violin performance from the Eastman School of Music (B.Mus.), the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (M.Mus.), and the University of Minnesota (D.M.A). Her teachers have included Jorja Fleezanis, Camilla Wicks, Peter Salaff, and Philippe Djokic.
Gillian Smith, Violinist 