What do the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony and a version of Star-Spangled Banner sung by Jackie Evancho at Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017 have in common? Well … you may be surprised to discover that Pittville resident Robin A Smith was involved in both, the former as musical director and the latter as musical arranger!
Robin is a Grammy-nominated (2022) arranger, composer, conductor and, more recently, regular performer, who has worked all over the world in a wide variety of musical styles from classical to jazz, blues, rock and pop. His list of credits is extraordinary for its depth and variety. See here: www.robin-smith.co.uk/robin-credits/.
‘I was surrounded by music of all types as a child and absorbed the sounds around me – one brother was interested in folk, blues and jazz, another loved rock, my sister listened to classical music.’ Early work as a session musician with producer Tony Visconti led to recording with orchestras as an arranger on projects with Elaine Paige, Linda McCartney, Lucio Battisti, Stevie Wonder and others, and as an orchestrator on albums with the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra and vocal soundtracks of, among others, Elvis, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash.
Robin’s exposure to multiple genres of music and his love of funk and soul helped to shape his development as a composer. He has writing credits for some of the greats in the classical world, including Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli and José Carreras as well as with legends of more popular styles such as Gladys Knight, Earth Wind and Fire and Phil Collins. And, of course, he writes and records his own music too. Robin’s Le Weekend (pour les amants) album is available at: www.amazon.co.uk/Robin-Smith-National-Orchestra-Willowhayne/dp/B07HNFRSM1
Technology
Like other creative arts, music has been affected hugely by the development of technology, and it has been Robin’s ability to stay at the forefront of the application of digital technology, combined with his strong classical background and arranging ability, that has allowed him to work in the ways he does. ‘Suddenly finding myself in recording studios as a young musician, I learned from experts about recording techniques. Software became available that changed how I could work. Suddenly there’s a machine that can make drum sounds – so I could make demos by recording my own drum parts via a keyboard. That led on to learning about quantisation and synchronisation – the ability to work with click tracks. In the digital music world click tracks are the timekeepers. They are key to live and recorded music working together.’
Tubular Bells Reimagined
Most of Robin’s work until now could be considered to be behind the scenes, but his current project brings together all his skills and abilities and also puts him up front as a performer and band leader. His main focus at the moment is the Tubular Bells Reimagined tour, which has taken him and his band of musicians all over the world; they finished their latest UK tour a few weeks ago. Having worked with Robin on a number of prestigious projects over the last thirty years, Mike Oldfield allowed him to create colours and textures around Tubular Bells which feature in the 50th anniversary Reimagined tour. ‘Mike Oldfield deserves to be recognised as a great British composer and it’s a wonderful experience to re-present his music to the world through a stage show which accentuates the emotion and drama in the original work.’
Many people in Cheltenham will know Robin and his partner Sallie Taylor from performances at Chapel Arts before it closed a year or so ago. While Robin is the creative engine of the musical and performance side of his tours, Sallie is involved with the organisational and business side, and they make a great team. I saw the show at Bath Forum in November and it is clear how popular this combination of Mike Oldfield’s original music and Robin’s reimaginings and arrangements are with the public.
The tour continues with thirty more dates across northern Europe beginning in March next year. Visit Robin’s website for more information at www.robin-smith.co.uk
Author: Andy Hopkins