Geoff Smith (born 1966) is an English composer, academic and university Vice Chancellor. He has written and recorded four studio albums, performed internationally and been compared to such composers as

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

and

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

. In August 2019, he became the

Vice Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth countr ...

and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Regent's University London Regent's University London (formerly Regent's College) is a private university located in London, England. It is part of Galileo Global Education, Europe’s largest higher education provider. Regent's University London was established in 1984 ...

, having formerly served as the Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor of

Falmouth University Falmouth University is a specialist public university for the creative industries based in Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth and Penryn, Cornwall, Penryn, Cornwall, England. Founded as Falmouth School of Art in 1902, it was later known as Falmouth C ...

and Head of Music & Performing Arts at

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, Somerset, Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshi ...

Education

Smith earned his BA in Music from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

before an MPhil in Electronic Music from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and a PhD in Composition from the

University of Huddersfield The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

(where he was supervised by the composer

Gavin Bryars Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, Musical historicism, historicism, Avant-garde music, avant-garde, and experimental music. Early lif ...

). He also holds an MBA in Higher Education Management from the

Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior t ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

Career

Along with his wife, singer Nicola Walker Smith (born 1964), he has written and recorded numerous pieces of music and published ''American Originals'' (

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

, 1995); a book of interviews with American contemporary composers such as

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...

and

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist music, minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his work became notab ...

. Although strongly influenced by American composers, much of Smith's musical work borrows lyric content from traditional English verse and Romantic poets such as

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel, ''Wuthering Heights''. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte and Anne Bront� ...

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romanticism, romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well k ...

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

, and

Elizabeth Siddal Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall (25 July 1829 – 11 February 1862), better known as Elizabeth Siddal (a spelling she adopted in 1853), was an English artist, art model, and poet. Siddal was perhaps the most significant of the female models who pos ...

. Following the release of his first album ''Gas Food Lodging'' (1993) with independent label

Kitchenware Records Kitchenware Records was an independent record label based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was founded in 1982 by Keith Armstrong, Paul Ludford and Phil Mitchell, and was originally part of The Soul Kitchen, an artist collective and nightcl ...

, Smith signed a record deal with

Sony Classical Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired ...

and a publishing contract with

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. His second album, ''15 Wild Decembers'' (1995), was produced by

Steve Nye Steve Nye is an English music producer for several artists. Career Nye started out as a tape op at AIR Studios in London in 1971, where producer Rupert Hine discovered him. There he got into engineering (and later producing) many well-known ...

in New York, whilst his third album ''Black Flowers'' (1997) was produced at

AIR Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producers George Martin, John Burgess (record producer), John Burgess, Ron Richards (producer), Ron Richards, and Peter Sullivan (rec ...

in London. In 2014, after fourteen years of inactivity, Smith recorded a new album ''Black is the Colour'' (2014) and released it digitally via

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. His academic career began as a lecturer at the universities of Manchester and Huddersfield before joining Bath Spa University as Head of Music in 1998. In 2002, he founded the School of Music and Performing Arts at Bath Spa which was recognized as a national Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 2005. Later that year, aged 38, Smith was awarded a professorial title for ‘outstanding qualities of academic leadership’. In November 2008, he joined Falmouth University as Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor where he expanded the university's academic portfolio and developed a range of national and international partnerships. He also led the development of the university's online brand, 'Falmouth Flexible', and authored the '2030 Portfolio Strategy' for the building of a pedagogy fit for the '4th Industrial Revolution'. In August 2019, he was appointed Vice Chancellor and CEO of Regent's University London and in April 2020 announced that he would donate 20% of his monthly salary back to the University in response to the financial pressures of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He is also a Trustee of

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity Colleg ...

Discography

Albums

*''Gas Food Lodging'' (Kitchenware, 1993) *''15 Wild Decembers'' (Sony Classical, 1995) *''Black Flowers'' (Sony Classical, 1997) *''Black is the Colour'' (Bandcamp, 2014)

EPs

*''Six Wings'' (Sony Classical, 1995)

Other Recordings

*''The Garden'' icola Walker Smith(Kitchenware, 1991)

References

External links

The Geoff Smith Band WebsiteThe Geoff Smith Band Soundcloud
* Morning Concert: Interview with Nicola Walker Smith and Geoff Smith (from August 21, 1992) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Geoff Living people 1966 births Academics of Bath Spa University Alumni of the University of Huddersfield Alumni of the UCL Institute of Education Alumni of the University of Nottingham Alumni of the University of Oxford British composers Heads of universities and colleges in England Musicians from Newcastle upon Tyne People associated with Falmouth University People associated with Regent's University London