Dr. Cory Smythe

Professor

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Biography

Cory Smythe is a pianist who has worked closely with pioneering artists in the realm of new, improvisatory classical music. He collaborates with various notable musicians including multi-instrumentalist-composer Tyshawn Sorey, violinist Hilary Hahn, and composers Anthony Braxton and Zosha Di Castri. His music is described as 'perplexingly perfect' by The Wire and characterized by a dissolution of lines between composition and improvisation according to the Chicago Reader. He has been featured in prestigious festivals such as Newport Jazz, Tectonics, Darmstadt, and Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart festival. Smythe has premiered new works created in collaboration with Peter Evans and Craig Taborn, and he has received commissions from Present Music, Banff Centre for Arts, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Wiener Festwochen, and the International Contemporary Ensemble, of which he is a longtime member. His recent trilogy of critically acclaimed albums is available under the Pyroclastic label, supported by a grant from the Shifting Foundation, and he received a Grammy award for his work with Ms. Hahn as well as the 2022 Herb Alpert Award in Music.

Research Interests

Requirements for University of California, San Diego

Doctorate Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3
TOEFL
Total
Required:85
IELTS
Overall
Required:7
Duolingo
Overall Score
Required:120
Overall
Required:120
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree in physical, biological, or earth sciences, mathematics, or engineering. Differential and integral calculus. One year of calculus-based physics with laboratory. One year of chemistry with laboratory.
Application Checklist
  • Statement of Purpose (max 2 pages)
  • Unofficial transcripts
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • Application fee ($135 domestic / $155 international)
Specialization Notes

Administered by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Curricular groups include Climate-Ocean-Atmosphere (COAP), Geosciences (GEO), and Ocean Biosciences (OBP).