Alan
Smith
(1962 - 2017)

lan Smith was born in London in 1962 and died on April 28, 2017, in West Sussex

He spent his childhood in Croydon (Surrey, London) and attended Trinity School, where he was involved in many of the activities of its prestigious Music Department. Immersed in church music from an early age, he joined his local church choir at the age of seven. He also sang with the Royal School of Music's Headquarters Choir, based at nearby Addington Palace. It was here, at age ten, that he had began organ lessons with Michael Fleming.

Alan's first appointment was as Organist and Choirmaster of a local church at the age of 16. Thrown in at the deep end, he managed somehow to swim rather than sink and eventually became Organ Scholar at Kings' College, London, where he studied from 1981 to 1984. As part of his music degree, he specialized in composition, studying with Nicola LeFanu, David Lumsdaine and George Nicholson.

Following postgraduate training at the London Institute of Education, Alan began his teaching career at Whitgift School, Croydon. After working in various schools, he was named Head of Music at Hazelwick School, Crawley, in 1990, a post he continues to hold. In the same year, he came to some prominence by winning the RSCM's annual composing competition. His successful entry, Let the Peoples Praise You, was his first published piece and continues to be widely performed. Since then, his choral compositions have won several awards, most recently the Thornesian Prize in 2003.

Alan's output is predominantly choral and vocal music, much of it written for specific choirs or occasions, and his catalogue runs to well over 100 works. In the United Kingdom, his work is published by Animus, Curiad, Cantiones Press, Escorial Edition, Fagus Music, Oecumuse and RSCM, while in America, he is published by Abingdon Press and Oxford University Press, in addition to CanticaNOVA Publications.

From 1998 until his death in 2017, Alan had been Director of Music at Saint Andrew's Church (Anglican) in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, where he lived with his wife and three children.

CanticaNOVA Publications is pleased to offer several of Alan Smith's works in our catalog:

• Breathe on Me, Breath of God CNP Catalog #5052
• Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation [Festival Setting - Church Dedication] CNP Catalog #4311
• Let My Prayer Come Up CNP Catalog #3096
• Now, My Tongue, the Mystery Telling CNP Catalog #4210
• Prayer of Saint Richard CNP Catalog #5050
• The Song of Christ's Glory CNP Catalog #5049
• Soul of Christ, Sanctify Me CNP Catalog #5051
• This Joyful Eastertide CNP Catalog #4312