Geoff Smith (music composer)

Geoff Smith (born 1966) is a British music composer, writer, and academic. Along with his wife, singer Nicola Walker Smith (born 1964), he has written and recorded numerous pieces of contemporary classical music and published the book American Originals: Interviews with 25 contemporary composers with Faber & Faber in 1995.[1][2] His compositions have been described as "minimalist" and "pop classical"[3] and he's been compared to contemporaries Philip Glass and Steve Reich.[4]

Many of Smith's musical works take their lyric content from traditional English verse or English Romantic poets including Emily Brontë, John Keats, Christina Rossetti, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Elizabeth Siddal.

Smith is a former student of English composer/double bassist Gavin Bryars.

After fourteen years of inactivity a reformed Geoff Smith Band recorded several new tracks in early 2014 and made them available via SoundCloud.[5] This latest incarnation of the group features Geoff (Piano & Keyboards), Nicola (Vocals), Adrian Utley (Guitars & Bass), James Woodrow (Guitar), and Clive Deamer (Drums).

Smith holds a BA in Music from the University of Nottingham, an MPhil in Electronic Music from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Composition from the University of Huddersfield. He taught at the universities of Manchester and Huddersfield before becoming Head of Music at Bath Spa University where he founded the School of Music and Performing Arts (recognised in 2005 as a national Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning). He was awarded a professorship later in 2005 and completed an MBA in Higher Education Management at the University of London in 2006. Smith has worked at Falmouth University since 2008 where he is now Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor.[6]