Gabriella Smith is a composer whose work invites listeners to find joy in climate action. Her music comes from a love of play, exploring new instrumental sounds, and creating musical arcs that transport audiences into sonic landscapes inspired by the natural world. An “outright sensation” (LA Times), her music "exudes inventiveness with a welcoming personality, rousing energy and torrents of joy” (NY Times).

Lost Coast, a concerto for cello and orchestra, written for her longtime collaborator Gabriel Cabezas, received its world premiere in May 2023 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. This work joins her organ concerto, Breathing Forests, written for James McVinnie also premiered by the LA Phil, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Other current projects include a large-scale work for Kronos Quartet, commissioned in celebration of their 50th anniversary season, and an album-length work for yMusic featuring underwater field recordings. In December 2023, her work Tumblebird Contrails was performed on the Nobel Prize Concert by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Her first full-length album, titled Lost Coast, was recorded with Gabriel Cabezas and producer Nadia Sirota at Greenhouse Studios in Iceland and named one of NPR Music’s “26 Favorite Albums Of 2021” and a “Classical Album to Hear Right Now” by The New York Times. Gabriel and Gabriella, as a cello-violin-voice-electronics duo, have performed together around the world, including in Reykjavík, New York City, and Paris.

Gabriella grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area playing and writing music, hiking, backpacking, and volunteering on a songbird research project.

Read More:
Interview: Aquatic Ecology—Santa Barbara Independent, March 2025
Composer Gabriella Smith and yMusic Collaborate Naturally (Aquatic Ecology)—San Francisco Classical Voice, March 2025
Review | Musically Swept Away by yMusic… (Aquatic Ecology)—Santa Barbara Independent, March 2025
Review: The Philharmonic Gives a Master Class in Programming (Lost Coast)—New York Times, November 2024
Gabriella Smith: Music for the Joyful Earthling—All Classical Radio Anthology, April 2024
The Cleveland Orchestra: About the Music (Breathing Forests)—The Cleveland Orchestra, April 2024
Gabriella Smith, force de la nature—Radio France, February 2024
Celebrating the joy of climate solutions with music—Adventures in Music, January 2024
Review: S.F. Symphony celebrates forests with a triumphant new orchestral masterpieceSF Chronicle, November 2023
California Soundscapes: Composer Gabriella Smith (Breathing Forests)—San Francisco Symphony, November 2023
Gabriella Smith’s Lost Coast: Joyful Climate Action through Music—California Festival, October 2023
Gabriella Smith’s Music Marvels at Nature with Grooving Joy—New York Times, May 2023
California Soundscapes: Composer Gabriella Smith (Tumblebird Contrails)—San Francisco Symphony, March 2023
In a Time of Crisis, Treelogy Speaks for the Trees (Desert Ecology)—San Francisco Classical Voice, February 2023
Conductor Vinay Parameswaran Stands on the Edge of a Major Career—San Francisco Classical Voice, February 2023
Salonen Spring—San Francisco Symphony, February 2023
23 for ‘23: Composers and performers to watch this year—Washington Post, January 2023
An Actually Erotic Classical Music for Sex Playlist—Van Magazine, December 2022
Oh Gabriella!—Radio France, Septemper 2022
Review: New music and nature meet under a Green Umbrella—Los Angeles Times, July 2022
Review: Esa-Pekka Salonen makes a triumphant return to the L.A. Phil—Los Angeles Times, February 2022
Review: Ojai Music Festival begins a new era with exciting emerging talent—Los Angeles Times, September 2021
5 Classical Albums to Hear Right Now—New York Times, July 2021
26 Favorite Albums Of 2021 (So Far)—NPR Music, June 2021
Album of the WeekFor the Record, June 2021
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love String Quartets—New York Times, February 2021
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love 21st-Century Composers—New York Times, August 2020
How a Pianist Salvaged His Lost Carnegie Hall Debut—New York Times, May 2020
New Artist of the Month: Composer Gabriella Smith—Musical America, June 2019
Review: Jeffrey Kahane returns to L.A. Chamber Orchestra…—Los Angeles Times, March 2019
Review: Philip Glass takes David Bowie and the symphony…—Los Angeles Times, January 2019
5 Questions to Gabriella Smith—I Care If You Listen, July 2018