Leo Smith (composer)

Joseph Leopold Smith (26 November 1881 – 18 April 1952) was an English composer, writer, music critic, music educator, and cellist who was primarily active in Canada. His compositional output consists of works for cello, piano, choir and orchestra (most notably An Ancient Song and A Summer Idyll) and a considerable amount of chamber music (most notably String Quartet in D, Sonata in E Minor and A Horse Race Ballad).

Smith was born in Birmingham. A child prodigy, he began studying cello at a very young age with W.H. Priestley in Birmingham and then later with Carl Fuchs in Manchester. His first professional cello recital was given at the Birmingham Town Hall in 1890 when he was just 8 years old as part of the Harrison Concert series. Since then he performed actively in concerts as both a soloist and a chamber musician. Eventually he pursued further training at the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Manchester (UM) where he was a pupil of Henry Hiles. While at the UM he became a member of the Hallé Orchestra and eventually played in the orchestra at the Royal Opera House for five years. He notably performed under the batons of Béla Bartók, Claude Debussy, Frederick Delius, Edward Elgar, and Richter among others.

In 1910 Smith emigrated to Canada, and was quickly hired by Frank Welsman to play for his Toronto Symphony Orchestra (no relation to the current orchestra of that name), becoming principal cellist in 1917 for that orchestra's final season. He met his wife, violinist Lena Hayes Smith (188?–1956), while playing in Wellman's orchestra. He later became a member of the new Toronto Symphony Orchestra when it was founded in 1922, serving as its principal cellist from 1932–1940. In 1938 he became principal cellist of the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO), a position he held until the mid-1940s.

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