Vladimir Smirnov

Vladimir Smirnov

Vladimir Smirnov is a Ph.D candidate in music composition at Duke University. He received his Master’s degree from the Peabody Institute, and his Bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech. He composes music in a variety of genres, plays piano and electric bass in [dnme], and plays a variety of instruments in the experimental improv group White Oak. His music has received several honors including reading selection by the Baltimore Symphony and Marin Alsop, regional award from SCI/ASCAP, and honorable mentions from the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute and the New England Philharmonic.

In my arrangement of “Matin” by Paul Delmet, I decided to give the chanson a fast-paced, cartoonish treatment. The main melody appears in a variety of guises, quickly changing from one presentation to the next. The characters of “Matin” leave the sentimental scene of the original chanson and get into all sorts of hilarious adventures.