Dr. Andrew Martin Smith
Dr. Andrew Martin Smith’s “My Garden...My World” was recently played at the 50th International Viola Congress.
The solo viola work was presented by violist Andrea Priester Houde, associate professor of viola at West Virginia University, in Paris, France, on Jan. 19.
Premiered in 2019 during the 92nd season of Interlochen Arts Camp, the composition is a reflective meditation inspired by a quote from Leo Buscaglia and was written in response to the passing of Houde’s grandmother, Patricia Wilda Haney Perrodin.
Conceived as an intimate act of artistic support and remembrance, the work explores themes of connection, grief and solace through restrained gesture and harmonic focus. The piece also pays homage to Ursula Mamlok, whose work “From My Garden” influenced its harmonic language and formal design.
Smith is a lecturer in Music-Studies in the School of Music.
The International Viola Congress brings together passionate musicians in a different country each year to pay tribute to the viola.
