Life
Hopkinson Smith was born on 7 December 1946 in New York City, the son of architectural writer G. E. Kidder Smith. A Swiss-American lutenist long resident in Basel, Switzerland, he graduated from Harvard University before moving to Europe in 1973 to study lute and vihuela with Emilio Pujol. In the mid-1970s he helped found the ensemble Hespèrion XX, leading to a decade-long collaboration with Jordi Savall, before turning since the mid-1980s to solo recitals on vihuela, Renaissance lute, theorbo, and Baroque guitar. He taught for decades at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, retiring in 2020, and his recording of Bach’s solo violin sonatas and partitas arranged for lute has been called among the best on any instrument.
Impact
Hopkinson Smith’s decades of teaching at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis made him one of the most influential pedagogues in early plucked-string performance, training students including Rolf Lislevand and Eduardo Egüez who now anchor the field internationally. His meticulously researched, deeply expressive solo recordings of Francesco da Milano, Weiss, and Bach on period instruments have set interpretive standards, while his co-founding of Hespèrion XX helped launch the broader early-music revival in continental Europe.
Repertoire
Chaconne (BWV 1004, lute transcription) by Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach – Ciaccona (Lute Transcription) – Hopkinson Smith
Il Divino (selections) by Francesco da Milano
Hopkinson Smith – Francesco da Milano – Il Divino
Lute works performed on a 1755 Widhalm swan-neck Baroque lute by Sylvius Leopold Weiss
Hopkinson Smith plays Weiss on a 1755 Widhalm Swan-neck Baroque Lute