ROLF SMEDVIG
Trumpet
ROLF SMEDVIG is one of the world's great trumpeters, a dazzling virtuoso
acknowledged as a soloist and chamber musician of international renown.
He has played as soloist with many orchestras, among them the Boston Symphony,
National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de
Mexico and the New Japan Philharmonic, performing there under the direction of Seiji Ozawa.
He has made guest appearances with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, National Symphony of
Mexico, the Sydney Symphony performing the Berio Sequenza for the Australian Broadcasting
Company, and is a frequent guest at such festivals as Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, Chautauqua, the
Pacific Music Festival, Marlboro Bach Festival, and the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico.
Mr. Smedvig's CD of virtuoso trumpet concertos with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the
first release under an exclusive contract with Telarc Records, earned a Grammy nomination. Mr.
Smedvig has also toured North America as soloist with the orchestra. The American Record
Guide praised the CD as containing "absolutely gorgeous playing."
Mr. Smedvig was born in Seattle and made his debut as a soloist with the Seattle
Symphony when he was thirteen. He attended college at Boston University and studied the
trumpet with such teachers as Armando Ghitalla, Raphael Mendez, and Maurice Andre. While
studying at Tanglewood in 1971, he was invited by Leonard Bernstein to play solo trumpet in the
world premiere of the composer's Mass that marked the opening of the Kennedy Center in
Washington, DC. Mr. Smedvig served the Boston Symphony and the Tanglewood Music Center
for ten years. Appointed by Seiji Ozawa, he became the youngest member of that orchestra and
after becoming Principal trumpet, left to pursue a career as soloist and conductor.
Mr. Smedvig made his conducting debut in the Tanglewood Music Shed and as Music
Director of the Cambridge Chamber Orchestra; he has recorded several CD's and a DVD with
the Cambridge Chamber Orchestra. Other recent engagements include the New World
Symphony Brass and the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert in 1996 and 1999 at the Pacific
Music Festival, Sapporo Japan. He has been a guest conductor of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra,
and with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela, was responsible for a tour of the U.S.,
including a visit to Tanglewood and a CBS televised broadcast of their concert at Boston's
Government Center. He is featured as soloist and conductor on the new Telarc CD with the
Empire Brass and members of the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Brass entitled
The Glory of Gabrieli.
Mr. Smedvig is committed to music education. He currently serves as a clinician for the
Selmer Company and has given master classes at the Curtis Institute, Moscow Conservatory,
London’s Royal Academy, Toho School of Japan, Stanford, and Harvard University. He is
featured on the Warner Bros. Twenty-first century Band Method video. His faculty positions
have included Boston University, the Tanglewood Music Center, and he founded and directed
the Empire Brass Seminar at Tanglewood.
The Boston Ballet presented the World premiere of the ballet Passage with music written,
arranged and adapted by Rolf Smedvig. The Telarc CD Passage was co-produced by Mr.
Smedvig. He is an accomplished ASCAP arranger-composer with hundreds of works published
by KRS, G. Schirmer, and International Music.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
The New York Times
"One of our finest trumpeters, capable of spinning a cantabile melodic line one moment
and filling an auditorium with brilliantly assertive blasts of pure sound the next. His
concert was dazzling."
"Virtuosity and versatility far beyond the normal call of concert duty."
"Outstanding trumpet performance."
San Francisco Chronicle
"Impressive musicianship, generous and smooth tone."
Pittsburgh Press
"Smedvig is outstanding - sensitive, musicianly approach which serves the music well."
Boston Herald American
"His legato playing is like fine singing."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Smedvig proved he was an exceptional musician - he utilized his instrument with true
musicality and the purity and fullness of tone is remarkable."
Christian Science Monitor
"Even, rich tone and amazingly secure line...rock-solid trumpet work."
Newport Daily News
"Smedvig's work was brilliant and clear, lifting the concert to a lofty level. He soared with
exquisite control, coloring every nuance beautifully."
Seattle Times
"Smedvig played with skill and artistry, producing a smooth, warm legato sound and crisp,
accurate, rapid playing...assurance and fine musicianship...Smedvig was a knockout."
Gramophone Magazine
"The fluent musicality and easy style of phrasing are what strike the ear
first and his imaginative touches too...."
SOLO REVIEWS
"Even in such an outstanding group, the first trumpet was exceptional. Every brass player should
try to imitate the beauty of his style - the way his vibrato made the tone sing, and the
extraordinary sensitive way he shaped the body and tail of each note."
Japan Times
"[Rolf] has the smoothness of line and softness of sound to make the slow movements really
sing, and he has the assurance to make the big bravura moments shine."
Orlando Times
"Smedvig is a commanding soloist who captivates the listener with expressive phrasing, delicate
cantabile playing and bursts of exhilarating power when necessary."
Chattanooga Times
"This is an imposing solo debut, one that should propel Smedvig forward into that rarefied arena
of the few brass players who can sustain a solo career."
The Seattle Times
"Smedvig's playing is absolutely spectacular, with hair-trigger control and high-wire acrobatics
aplenty."
Fanfare Magazine
"Trumpeter Rolf Smedvig thrilled the audience with Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major...
This young man is definitely a world-class virtuoso and played with both elegance and power."
Thomasville Times
"His playing was polished and suave, and he spun out Hummel's solo part in tone that was
gleaming and assertive..."
The Orlando Sentinel
"Smedvig is a silver-tongued virtuoso with a sweet, mellow tone..."
The Miami Herald
"[Rolf's] playing of Haydn's E-flat Trumpet Concerto couldn't have been more elegant, clean and
clear, pliant. It was multidimensional, sometimes wonderfully soft and inwardly drawn,
sometimes almost like an echo, sometimes bright and bold and chilling."
Greenville News
"Smedvig has a pure, flexible tone and a superb technique to express it... [he] made every phrase
meaningful."
Sun-Sentinel
“Two trumpet concertos followed, played with beautiful tone and impressive technique by Rolf
Smedvig…the Haydn concerto is a nice piece and Smedvig played it very well.”
Grunion Gazette
DISCOGRAPHY
Conductor:
Vivaldi
Four Seasons
Soundstream, Inc.
Digital 107
Digital Hits
Works of Pachelbel, Albinoni, Mouret,
Bach, Handel and Corelli
Soundstream, Inc.
Digital 101
Glory of the Baroque
Works of Pachelbel, Albinoni, Mouret,
Bach, Handel and Corelli
Soundstream, Inc.
Digital 101
Digital Telemann
Bb Sonata, c minor Sonata and
Heroic Music
Soundstream, Inc.
Digital 106
Trumpet Concertos
Works of Haydn, Hummel, Torelli,
Tartini and Bellini
Telarc
CD 80232
Ceremonial Music
With Michael Murray, organ
Telarc
CD 80341
Virtuoso Trumpet
Works of Bach, Telemann and
L. Mozart
Telarc
CD 80227
Solo:
BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS:
Igor Stravinsky
Chamber Music and Kammermusik
Telarc
CD 80227
Igor Stravinsky
The Soldier's Tale
Deutsche Grammophon
WITH THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - SEIJI OZAWA:
Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring
Mahler
Symphony of a Thousand (No.8)
Philips 6769 069
Strauss
Ein Heldenleben
Philips 6514 222
Strauss
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Philips 6514 221
Beethoven
Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op. 67
Telarc
DG 10060
Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 5
Deutsche Grammophon
2530 888
EMPIRE BRASS ON CD:
Joy to the World
Arrangements of Christmas music with
Nancy Allen, harp and Mark Kroll,
harpsichord
Angel/EMI
CDC 7 49097 2
Fireworks
Works of Handel, Purcell and Dowland
with Arthur Press, percussion and Brad
Ellis, synthesizer
Angel/EMI
CDC 7 49277 2
A Bach Festival
For
Brass and Organ
Works of J.S. Bach with Douglas Major,
organ
Angel/EMI
CDC 7 49395 2
Empire Brass in Japan
Works of Debussy, Ravel, Kriesler and
Sousa
CBS/Sony
32DC 897
Music of Gabrieli
Works of Gabrieli, Isaac, Diaz and
Banchieri
Telarc
CD 80204
Bernstein, Gershwin,
Tilson Thomas
Arrangements of West Side Story, Mass
Porgy and Bess and Street Song
Telarc
CD 80159
Class Brass
Classical favorites for Brass
Telarc
CD 80220
Music for Organ, Brass
and Percussion
With Michael Murray, organ
Telarc
CD 80218
Royal Brass
Music for the Renaissance and
Baroque
Telarc
CD 80257
Braggin' in Brass
Music of Duke Ellington, Fats Waller,
Jelly Roll Morton, Cole Porter and others
Telarc
CD 80249
Romantic Brass
Music of the French and Spanish
Impressionists
Telarc
CD 80301
Empire Brass
Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber, Richard
Rodgers, Cole Porter, Bernstein and others
Telarc
CD 80303
Class Brass:
On the Edge
More classical favorites for Brass
Telarc
CD 80305
Mozart for Brass
Transcriptions of favorite Mozart pieces
Telarc
CD 80332
EMPIRE BRASS ON CD continued
Passage
Arrangements for brass and percussion
of music from 138 BC to 1611 AD including
the works of Hildegard von Bingen, Hans
Weck, Francesco Landini and Carlo Gesualdo
Telarc
CD 80355
King's Court
and
Celtic Fair
Modern arrangements of the music of old
Europe and its prince and the peasant musical worlds,
flavored by the proud traditions of Scotland.
Telarc
CD 80380
An Empire Brass Christmas
The World Sings
Arrangements for brass, percussion and vocals of
Christmas carols and other favorites
Telarc
CD 80416
Greatest Hits
Works of Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Scheidt,
Gershwin, more
Telarc
CD 80438
Firedance
Works by 20th Century composers
Telarc
CD 80493
The Glory of Gabrieli
Antiphonal music for brass choirs
With guests from the New York Philharmonic and
Boston Symphony
Telarc
CD 80553
Baroque Music for Brass
And Organ
Works of Purcell, Telemann, Handel, more
William Kuhlman, Organ
Telarc
CD 80614
Additional Recordings with Empire Brass:
Renaissance Brass
Works of Guami, Holborne, des Prez, G. Gabrieli
Adson, A. Gabrieli, Isaac, Locke, Pezel, Scheidt
and Brade.
Soundstream, Inc.
Digital - 102
Empire Brass Encores
Works of Gershwin, Bernstein, Joplin
and Sousa
Soundstream, Inc.
Digital - 104
The American Brass Band
Journal
A collection of new and beautiful marches,
quick-steps. polkas, etc.
Columbia
Pachelbel: Kanon and other
Baroque favorites
Works of Pachelbel, Handel, Bach, Albinoni,
Gabrieli and Purcell
Sine Qua Non
SA 2041
Baroque Brass
Works of Albinoni, Bach, des Prez, Gabrieli,
Handel, Purcell, Scheidt, etc.
Sine Qua Non
SA 2014
American Brass Band Journal
First U.S. recording
Sine Qua Non
SAS 2017
Empire Brass Quintet
Works of Dvorak, Hindemith, Bohme
and Hovhaness
Soundstream, Inc.
Digital 105
Russian Brass
Works of Victor Ewald
Soundstream, Inc.
SA 2012
Baroque Brass
Works of Handel, Palestrina, Albinoni, Puerl,
Pezel, Purcell, des Prez, Bach, Gabrieli, Holborne,
Priuli, Schein, Byrd and Scheidt
Christmas with The Master
Chorale & Empire Brass
Christmas Favorites with The Master Chorale of Tampa
Bay
Seven Seas
K25C 372
______________________
ROLF SMEDVIG
______________________
Trumpet
Season 2006-2007
Contents
Biography
Critical Acclaim
Solo Reviews
Discography
Telarc Records
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10/06