Kirsten Smith, piano • (916) 278-7986 • Send Email

Kirsten Smith received both her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Arizona State University, where her principal teacher was Steven De Groote.  She has also worked with Malcolm Frager, John Ogden, Andre De Groote and Eugene Pridonoff.  She has been invited to perform at summer musical retreats including Aspen, Interlochen, Victoria, B.C. and has been the recipient of scholarships to Interlochen and the Van Cliburn Institute.  She performed extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout the Southwest and Texas and was the featured soloist with the Mesa Symphony Orchestra.    

Since she relocated to California, Ms. Smith has been active in solo and ensemble performances in the Sacramento area, often premiering new works by local composers.  She especially enjoyed being invited to perform in Kona, Hawaii in a collaborative effort with colleague Claudia Kitka.  Ms. Smith has been on the faculty of CSUS since 1996, where she teaches applied piano, class piano, music theory, ear-training, vocal accompanying and piano pedagogy.

In addition to her faculty responsibilities, Ms. Smith finds time to maintain a private studio.  Teaching is a passion for Ms. Smith, and she was awarded the prestigious Pedagogy Enhancement award at CSUS to develop and implement a graduate-level piano pedagogy program that will involve and support the piano teaching community in Sacramento.  She is also pursuing doctoral studies in Curriculum and Instruction at University of the Pacific, with an emphasis on development of music curriculum.  She was recently awarded a scholarship from the UoP to pursue research on the art of practicing.