Moira Smiley
{{Short description|American singer, composer, lyricist and musician (born 1976)}}
Moira Smiley (Moira Gwendolyn Smiley, born 21 May 1976)Vermont Vital Records Request Service (https://secure.vermont.gov/VSARA/vitalrecords/search-tool.php) is an American singer, composer, lyricist and musician born in New Haven, Vermont. She is a multi-instrumentalist on banjo, accordion, piano, and body percussion.{{Cite journal|last=DeLoach|first=Doug|date=August 2018|title=Moira Smiley Unzip The Horizon|journal=Gramophone|volume=96|issue=1164|pages=97|via=Gale}} Smiley's music has been influenced by folk styles, shape-note singing, classical song, and jazz.{{Cite web|last=Mohr-Pietsch|first=Sara|date=February 16, 2014|title=Moira Smiley|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02slq82|url-status=live|access-date=November 27, 2021|website=BBC Radio 3 The Choir: The Choral Interview podcast|type=Podcast interview|archive-date=November 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127213326/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02slq82}} Smiley has performed and collaborated with various artists including Billy Childs,{{Cite news|last=Mitchell|first=Cicely|date=November 17, 2016|title=Jazz Picks: Billy Childs with Alicia Olatuja and Moira Smiley at NCSU|work=The News & Observer|publication-place=Raleigh, NC|via=NewsBank}} Solas, Jayme Stone's The Lomax Project,{{Cite news|last=Goldberg|first=Brianna|date=May 7, 2015|title=Retracing the steps of a folk pioneer: Toronto musician revisits remarkable field recordings of legendary Alan Lomax|work=Toronto Star|id={{ProQuest| }}}} choral composer Eric Whitacre,{{Cite web|date=July 21, 2018|title=Big Sing California|url=https://lamasterchorale.org/big-sing-california/|url-status=live|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=Los Angeles Master Chorale|archive-date=June 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613043703/https://www.lamasterchorale.org/big-sing-california/}} Los Angeles Master Chorale, New World Symphony,{{Cite web|title=Moira Smiley|url=https://www.bandsintown.com/a/195383-moira-smiley?came_from=251|access-date=2021-11-30|website=Bandsintown|archive-date=2022-02-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218212635/https://www.bandsintown.com/a/195383-moira-smiley?came_from=251|url-status=live}} and often tours with eclectic indie-pop group Tune-Yards.{{Cite web|date=2015-04-14|title=tUnE-yArDs blesses Houston with the Nikki Nack tour|url=https://coogradio.com/2015/04/tune-yards-blesses-houston-with-the-nikki-nack-tour/|access-date=2021-11-30|website=Coog Radio – University of Houston Radio|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130192854/https://coogradio.com/2015/04/tune-yards-blesses-houston-with-the-nikki-nack-tour/|url-status=live}}
Early life and education
Smiley grew up in rural New Haven, Vermont. As a teenager, she began teaching at the Village Harmony Summer Camps. Smiley was among the 9 composers from Village Harmony that were represented on the Endless Light recording in 1996.{{Cite journal|last=Cooke|first=Nym|date=Winter 1999|title=The Shapenote Album|journal=American Music|publisher=University of Illinois Press|volume=17|issue=4|pages=472| doi=10.2307/3052661 | jstor=3052661 |via=Gale}} She entered Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in 1994 as a Wells Scholar to study piano performance, and earned her degree in Early Music Vocal Performance.{{cite web |url=https://lamasterchorale.org/moira-smiley |title=MOIRA SMILEY Composer |last= |first= |date= |website=Los Angeles Master Chorale |access-date=30 November 2021 |archive-date=28 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128005110/https://lamasterchorale.org/moira-smiley |url-status=live }} After college she traveled and studied the folk music and multi-part harmonies of Eastern Europe (Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria) as well as the traditional Irish Sean Nós singing.{{Cite news|last=Celsi|first=Anny|date=August 15, 2012|title=For Moira Smiley, Global Music Journey Transcends Time|work=Voice of America News / FIND}}
Career
While at Indiana University she founded the vocal quartet VIDA, which won Bloomington Voice's Battle of the Bands contest.{{Cite magazine|last=Bambarger|first=Bradley|date=May 4, 1996|title=Breaking away: Mysteries of Life, Vida, El Nino, Salaam Blossom in Bloomington|magazine=Billboard|volume=108| issue=18 |pages=1|id={{ProQuest| }}}} They went on to perform across the U.S. and Europe as part of the IMG Artists roster.{{Cite web|last=Chorale|first=Los Angeles Master|title=Moira Smiley|url=https://lamasterchorale.org/moira-smiley|access-date=2021-11-30|website=lamasterchorale.org|language=en|archive-date=2021-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128005110/https://lamasterchorale.org/moira-smiley|url-status=live}} She also began performing and recording with early music ensembles such as Paul Hillier's Theater of Voices, [https://www.allmusic.com/album/o-nobilissima-viriditas-the-complete-hildegard-von-bingen-vol-3-mw0001381615/credits Sinfonye], The Dufay Collective and Fretwork Consort of Viols as well as with American composer, Malcolm Dalglish.{{Cite news|last=Gullard|first=Marie|date=April 23, 2010|title=Strathmore pays homage to Mother Earth with special show|pages=20|work=Washington Examiner|publication-place=Washington, D.C.|id={{ProQuest| }}}}
In 2005 she released her first solo album Rua. The following year she released Blink, her first album with her vocal group VOCO. In 2013 Smiley and her group VOCO performed "Music for a Three-Layer Brain" for the TEDxCaltech "The Brain" event.{{Cite web|title=Moira Smiley {{!}} tedxcaltech.com|url=http://www.tedxcaltech.com/content/moira-smiley.html|access-date=2021-11-30|website=www.tedxcaltech.com|archive-date=2021-06-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605234115/http://www.tedxcaltech.com/content/moira-smiley.html|url-status=live}} In 2018 she began collaborating with the Seamus Egan Project, performing vocals and accordion. She sang "Days of War", her song written with Séamus Egan for a concert on Front Row Boston.{{Cite web|date=March 1, 2018|title=The Seamus Egan Project — Live At Fraser|url=https://www.wgbh.org/celtic/2018/04/23/the-seamus-egan-project-live-at-fraser|url-status=live|access-date=November 28, 2021|website=WGBH Boston NPR|archive-date=November 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128145318/https://www.wgbh.org/celtic/2018/04/23/the-seamus-egan-project-live-at-fraser}} In 2018 she released her second solo album, Unzip the Horizon, which The Bluegrass Situation called "the work of a significant talent finding new possibilities in her voice."{{Cite web|last=Hochman|first=Steve|date=March 28, 2018|title=The Giving of Voice: A Conversation with Moira Smiley.|url=https://thebluegrasssituation.com/read/the-giving-of-voice-a-conversation-with-moira-smiley/|url-status=live|access-date=November 28, 2021|website=The Bluegrass Situation|archive-date=November 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128060143/https://thebluegrasssituation.com/read/the-giving-of-voice-a-conversation-with-moira-smiley/}} In 2018 and 2019, Smiley led an immersive a cappella experience with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at the Walt Disney Concert Hall's BIG SING California event.{{Cite web|date=2019|title=Big Sing with Moira Smiley|url=https://www.lamasterchorale.org/showinfo.php?id=24|url-status=live|access-date=November 27, 2021|website=Los Angeles Master Chorale|archive-date=November 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127221826/https://www.lamasterchorale.org/showinfo.php?id=24}} In February, 2021 she released the vocal album, In Our Voices. {{Cite web|date=2021|title=Jukebox Quartet Statewide Tour|url=https://www.vso.org/event/jukebox-quartet-statewide-tour-artsriot/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-28|website=Vermont Symphony Orchestra|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-10-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028231708/https://www.vso.org/event/jukebox-quartet-statewide-tour-artsriot/}}
Awards
In 2002, Smiley won the Barbara Thornton Memorial Scholarship for Medieval Music, given by the Sequentia Ensemble.
In 2007, Smiley (along with fellow composers Ron Bartlett, Charlie Campagna) won the annual Lester Horton Award for "Music for Dance"{{Cite news|last=Heffley|first=Lynne|date=May 7, 2007|title=L.A. dance awards honor diverse mix|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-07-et-horton7-story.html|access-date=December 4, 2021|archive-date=November 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130142244/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-07-et-horton7-story.html|url-status=live}} for a score commissioned by choreographers Regina Klenjoski and Monica Favand for Klenjoski's The Black Drim, which was subsequently performed by Smiley & VOCO (along with the TRIP Music Ensemble) for the Synergy concert at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, in LA.{{Cite news|last=Haskins|first=Ann|date=September 20, 2006|title=Synergy|work=LA Weekly|url=https://www.laweekly.com/synergy/|access-date=December 1, 2021|archive-date=December 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201164842/https://www.laweekly.com/synergy/|url-status=live}}
In 2007, her ensemble Moira Smiley & VOCO were named national champions of the 30+ year old Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival.{{Cite web|date=2007|title=National Champions|url=https://www.harmony-sweepstakes.com/champions.php|url-status=live|access-date=November 27, 2021|website=Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival|archive-date=November 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128000456/https://www.harmony-sweepstakes.com/champions.php}}
Discography
= Solo albums =
= With VOCO =
- In Our Voices{{Cite web|last=Farnsworth|first=Chris|title=Moira Smiley and VOCO, 'In Our Voices'|url=https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/moira-smiley-and-voco-in-our-voices/Content?oid=32503822|access-date=2021-11-30|website=Seven Days|language=en|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130192856/https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/moira-smiley-and-voco-in-our-voices/Content?oid=32503822|url-status=live}} (2021)
- Laughter Out of Tears{{Cite web|title=LAUGHTER OUT OF TEARS – MOIRA SMILEY & VOCO|url=https://folkworks.org/review/laughter-out-of-tears-moira-smiley-voco/|access-date=2021-11-30|website=FolkWorks|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130192854/https://folkworks.org/review/laughter-out-of-tears-moira-smiley-voco/|url-status=live}} (2014)
- Small Worlds (2009)
- Circle, Square, Diamond and Flag (2008)
- Blink{{Citation|title=Blink|date=2006-08-15|url=https://open.spotify.com/album/0ftGjrxjj0kUA5672exURo|language=en|access-date=2021-11-30|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130192853/https://open.spotify.com/album/0ftGjrxjj0kUA5672exURo|url-status=live}} (2006)
= With VIDA =
- Blue Album (2000)
- In Bloom(1999)
- Vida (1997)
= Soundtracks =
- Changing Woman (2002)
- Sacred Ground (2001)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://moirasmiley.com/ Official website]
{{authority control}}
{{improve categories|date=December 2021}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smiley, Moira}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Songwriters from Vermont
Category:People from New Haven, Vermont
Category:21st-century American composers
Category:21st-century American women singers