About Tracy Anne Smith

Called “a great musician…full of feeling and colors,” by composer Jacques Hétu, Tracy Anne Smith is garnering increasing praise for her expressive performances, rich tonal palette and musical control. Cuban guitarist and composer Leo Brouwer praised her “polyphonic hands” and “tremendous sound,” while American virtuoso Benjamin Verdery commended her “ability to express the emotion of a work to its core.”  Even 80’s icon Sinbad offered, “I don’t know what she’s doing -- but I know it’s deep.”

Smith has performed in concert in her native Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Italy, Germany, Spain and England.  Her solo CD, Lilac.Star.Bird, heard on NPR’s Classical Guitar Alive, brings to light masterworks of the 20th and 21st centuries, including the Prix d’Eté winning title track written for her by the outstanding Taiwanese composer Ying-Chen Kao. Soundboard Magazine called Lilac.Star.Bird “exceedingly beautiful,” and exclaimed, “Smith gets some of the loveliest sounds I have ever heard from a Matthias Dammann guitar.”  Minor 7th Online Magazine described it as “masterful…an absolute success…an opportunity to display her incredible versatility as a guitarist. The rich and oftentimes thundering tones Smith can produce are truly breathtaking.”

In addition to solo work, as a founding member of ChromaDuo with Canadian guitar visionary Rob MacDonald, she commissions and performs new music across Canada and the United States.  ChromaDuo’s debut CD, to be released in March 2011, features dedications from such luminaries as Stephen Goss, Christopher William Pierce and Roland Dyens.

Following degrees at the Yale School of Music and University of Toronto, she is completing a Doctorate at Peabody Conservatory under the guidance of Manuel Barrueco. Former teachers include Julian Gray, Benjamin Verdery, Norbert Kraft and Jeffrey McFadden.