Kile Smith

Classical Host

Kile Smith hosts the contemporary American music program Now is the Time on Sundays at 10 pm on HD-2 and the classical stream, and co-hosts Discoveries from the Fleisher Collection on the first Saturday of every month at 5 pm. Discoveries takes a fresh look at music in the Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music at the Free Library of Philadelphia, where Kile was curator for 18 years.
 
When he's not producing podcasts of CD reviews for WRTI, writing for the Broad Street Review, or teaching music notation at Temple University, Kile is busy working at his life's calling - as a composer of orchestral, choral, chamber, and liturgical works. His works are praised by critics and audiences for their emotional power, direct appeal, and strong voice. Gramophone magazine calls his Vespers "spectacular," possessing "sparkling beauty." The Philadelphia Inquirer describes his music as "breathtaking."
 
He's recently composed for The Crossing, Piffaro, Tempesta di Mare, Mélomanie, and the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival. He's also written for David Kim, concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Jennifer Montone, Philadelphia's principal horn, and Anne Martindale Williams, principal cello of the Pittsburgh Symphony. His website is kilesmith.com.

He needs to get out more and pull weeds.

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CD Selections
4:45 pm
Thu June 28, 2012

Kile Smith Recommends: The Welcome News - Choral Music of Carson Cooman

The Welcome News: Choral Music of Carson Cooman

Carson Cooman writes music as naturally as anyone I’ve heard. The number of his works is already approaching 1,000 for this just barely 30 composer, and represents every form, even multiple symphonies and operas. In addition to composing he is an excellent organist who frequently performs new music, and between editing organ and hymn music he is Composer in Residence for The Memorial Church, Harvard University.

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Now is the Time
3:31 pm
Thu June 21, 2012

Fracta on Now is the Time

Kile Smith, Host of Now is the Time

Exotic sounds are broken, chanted, and spun on Now is the Time.

 Philadelphia-area composers Michael Hersch and Aaron Jay Kernis always intrigue, Pat Muchmore scalds with post-modern electric guitar, and Michael Ellison infuses Qu’ranic recitation with spectral wonder.

PROGRAM:

Elif - Michael Ellison

Fracta - Michael Hersch

Broken Aphorism 10 - Pat Muchmore

Ecstatic Meditations - Aaron Jay Kernis

Al Gharaniq—Fracture IV - Pat Muchmore

Now is the Time
7:58 pm
Thu June 14, 2012

Harp and Harpsichord on Now is the Time

Strings will be plucked on Sunday, June 17th at 10 pm on the all-classical stream and WRTI HD-2.


PROGRAM:
Peter Child: Fantasia
Dinos Constantinides: Landscape VI—Rhapsody for Harp and Strings
Harold Boatrite: Suite for Harpsichord
Harold Meltzer: Virginal
James Hartway: Detours

Now is the Time
11:14 pm
Fri June 8, 2012

Fiddling on Now is the Time

Composer Andy Teirstein

Violin, viola, cello, and even a double bass getting busy. Joshua Bell makes an appearance on Sunday, June 10th at 10 pm on the all-classical stream and WRTI HD-2.



PROGRAM:
Dylan Mattingly: Lighthouse (Refugee Music by a Pacific Expatriate)
John Musto: Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz: Northsea Balletic Spicebush
James Aikman: Sonata No. 1, for Violin and Piano
Andy Teirstein: Maramures

Now is the Time
5:59 am
Sun June 3, 2012

Night Time on Now is the Time

It's music of night and longing, with works by internationally known composers, and a lovely orchestral piece from Philadelphia composer Juliette Stango, on Sunday, June 3rd at 10 pm on the all-classical stream and WRTI HD-2.

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Discoveries from the Fleisher Collection
2:59 pm
Sat June 2, 2012

Ralph Vaughan Williams on Discoveries from the Fleisher Collection

Join us on Saturday, June 2nd from 5 to 6 pm for a look into the life of composer and conductor Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Even though descended from the Wedgwood family of pottery fame, and with Charles Darwin as a grand-uncle, Ralph Vaughan Williams was more common man than society type. The world-famous composer and esteemed professor at the Royal College of Music was once mistaken for a vagabond in his own hometown, dressed in ragged clothes and pushing a cart gathering aluminum for the war effort.

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Now is the Time
12:09 pm
Thu May 24, 2012

Bernard Rands on Now is the Time

Bernard Rands' NOW AGAIN

It's the music of Bernard Rands, performed by Philadelphia's premiere new music ensemble, Network for New Music on Sunday, May 27th at 10 pm on the classical stream and HD-2. The composer also came by the studio for a wide-ranging interview with WRTI's Kile Smith.

PROGRAM:
Bernard Rands: now again—fragments from Sappho
Rands: Scherzi
Rands interview with Kile Smith
 

MAD MEN, Music from the Original Soundtrack
4:46 pm
Sat April 28, 2012

Kile Smith Recommends...MAD MEN, Original Soundtrack from the TV Series

Matthew Weiner, the creator of the hugely popular TV series Mad Men - now in its fifth season - works very hard at going beneath the surface to capture the look of the 1960s, from company logo typefaces to office equipment tints to the shine in a pair of trousers. Mad Men composer David Carbonara labors just as much on the show's music to express that era; he’s a composer of acutely original pieces.

*

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Featuring I NEVER SAW ANOTHER BUTTERFLY
10:53 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

We’ll Never Forget: Music In Remembrance of the Holocaust on Thursday, April 19

WRTI will honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, and join with those in our community who remember them, with special programming throughout the day.

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Now is the Time
3:26 pm
Fri March 30, 2012

Vera of Las Vegas

Coming up on Now is the Time...Recent opera by Daron Hagen, commissioned by University of Nevada Las Vegas. This Sunday, April 1st at 10 pm on HD-2 and the classical stream.

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