Candace Smith

Candace Smith was born in Los Angeles but has lived in Europe since 1975 (in Italy since 1978). She received her Bachelor’s Degree in music in California (CSUN) and was particularly active in the field of contemporary music before going on to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Switzerland), where she specialized in medieval music under Andrea von Ramm. In 1994 she earned a diploma in vocal pedagogy from the Rabine- Institut für funktionale Stimmpädagogik (Germany). Candace is quite active as a teacher throughout Europe, working with singers of varying repertoires (both classical and non), as well as actors, music teachers, psychiatric patients and others. She was also the teaching assistant of Cathy Berberian, with whom she performed concerts of American music. Since 1995 she has taught singing at the Bernstein School of Musical Theatre in Bologna and has also been on the faculty of the Accademia Teatrale Veneta in Venice since 2012.

She has collaborated and recorded with numerous ensembles of early music including Studio der Frühen Musik (Basel), Sequentia (Cologne/Paris), P.A.N. (Boston) and The Newberry Consort (Chicago). In 1991 she founded Cappella Artemisia, an ensemble of women (primarily), dedicated to performing the music of Italian convents of the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1997, she began publishing the repertoire of early music from Italian convents, together with her husband, American cornettist Bruce Dickey, under the name of Artemisia Editions. There are currently twenty-eight titles available.