Gabriella Smith is a composer whose work invites listeners to find joy in climate action. Her music comes from a love of play, exploring new instrumental sounds, and creating musical arcs that transport audiences into sonic landscapes inspired by the natural world. An “outright sensation” (LA Times), her music "exudes inventiveness with a welcoming personality, rousing energy and torrents of joy” (NY Times).
Lost Coast, a concerto for cello and orchestra, written for her longtime collaborator Gabriel Cabezas, received its world premiere in May 2023 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. This work joins her organ concerto, Breathing Forests, written for James McVinnie also premiered by the LA Phil, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Other current projects include a large-scale work for Kronos Quartet, commissioned in celebration of their 50th anniversary season, and an album-length work for yMusic featuring underwater field recordings. In December 2023, her work Tumblebird Contrails was performed on the Nobel Prize Concert by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Her first full-length album, titled Lost Coast, was recorded with Gabriel Cabezas and producer Nadia Sirota at Greenhouse Studios in Iceland and named one of NPR Music’s “26 Favorite Albums Of 2021” and a “Classical Album to Hear Right Now” by The New York Times. Gabriel and Gabriella, as a cello-violin-voice-electronics duo, have performed together around the world, including in Reykjavík, New York City, and Paris.
Gabriella grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area playing and writing music, hiking, backpacking, and volunteering on a songbird research project.
Read More:
Interview: Aquatic Ecology—Santa Barbara Independent, March 2025
Composer Gabriella Smith and yMusic Collaborate Naturally (Aquatic Ecology)—San Francisco Classical Voice, March 2025
Gabriella Smith: Music for the Joyful Earthling—All Classical Radio Anthology, April 2024
The Cleveland Orchestra: About the Music (Breathing Forests)—The Cleveland Orchestra, April 2024
Gabriella Smith, force de la nature—Radio France, February 2024
Celebrating the joy of climate solutions with music—Adventures in Music, January 2024
Review: S.F. Symphony celebrates forests with a triumphant new orchestral masterpiece—SF Chronicle, November 2023
California Soundscapes: Composer Gabriella Smith (Breathing Forests)—San Francisco Symphony, November 2023