Simona Smirnova

Styles: Alternative pop / world / jazz

Instruments: vocals / kanklės / theremin / piano

Simona Smirnova is a Lithuanian born vocalist, composer and kanklės player based in New York City. A global ambassador for the Lithuanian national instrument kanklės, she is currently the only kanklės player in the United States! Simona is fixture in the New York live scene with her band when she’s not touring the world, including Australia, New Zealand and Europe. She deftly implements Lithuanian zither – kanklės and folk melodies into foundations of jazz, pop and electronic music. Always on the road, always charming and smiling, Simona is a true artistic soul that effervescently represents diversity and passion for arts.

Simona Smirnova has released four albums of her original music. Smirnova's debut album "A Hunger Artist" (2017) based on Franz Kafka's short story by the same title. Smirnova’s second album, Joan of Arc, for String Quartet, is an original composition written as a soundtrack for the classic Carl Dreyer silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). The album is a cinematic landscape of chamber pop, jazz and folklore. Simona's third album "Bird Language" which was released in April of 2022. The record combines jazz and Lithuanian folk music written for jazz quartet, string quartet, vocal ensemble, zither and saxophone. You can hear Simona performing her "Bird Language" act in the New York jazz scene on a regular basis. 

Smirnova's latest album "Kanklės in New York" (2023) presents Lithuanian traditional zither - kanklės in two formats; an album and sheet music book. The book and album contains 14 original pieces written for kanklės solo, and kanklės and voice. 

Classically trained on kanklės, Smirnova earned her BA in jazz vocals at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. Shortly after receiving the European Touring Scholarship, she moved to the United States in 2012 to study at Berklee College of Music where she earned a degree in Contemporary Composition and Production. Simona is a very active member of the musician community around the globe; she is an Alumna of the prestigious Berklee College of Music, a mentor at Grammy U program, she is a voting member of Grammy Recording Academy, the ambassador for the Global Stage Hollywood Film Festival and a composer member of New York Composers Circle (NYCC).