
From an idyllic childhood in a Lithuanian village surrounded by nature and animals to busking on the New York subway and singing jazz on the street for money for food and rent, Simona Smirnova has quite a story.
"There were times I didn’t have a cellphone, season-appropriate shoes or jacket. I was just going through each day and trying to make it through college."
Those tough times are behind her now. She has a contemporary composition and production degree from Berkeley College, is living in New York and has just released her third album, Bird Language.
In that work she says she is showing listeners her "true face".
"It’s the very first one when the audience can really feel my personality, my story, my character. It’s sultry, it’s sad and hopeful at the same time, it’s a little bit quirky.
"It is also the largest instrumentation I have done so far; we have 11 musicians on this record: string quartet, upright bass, drums, piano, saxophone, two background vocalists and myself on lead vocals and zither."
Her previous works have been based on other people’s stories.
The first drew on Franz Kafka’s short story A Hunger Artist, performed as a live show with modern dance, and her second, Joan of Arc, for String Quartet, was written as a soundtrack for Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc and performed with a silent film.
"As we get older we start shedding some of the influences and let ourselves be the way we truly are, allowing ourselves to express our ideas unapologetically," Smirnova says.
"I think my journey is about that — getting closer to the truest creative expression of myself."
That true creative expression had its genesis in the Lithuanian village where she grew up. Her family lived in a small wooden house without television or piped water.
"I learned a lot about gardening, animals and seasonal changes. I remember going to a well to get buckets of water. I think my first years set a blueprint of my personality; I am deeply connected to the natural world around me, to fairy tales and books, to folk songs."
Having been born during the revolution when Lithuania regained its independence from the Soviet Union, she grew up in a "highly patriotic" climate.
"I think that did make a huge impact on me. Even now, while living in the US for the past 10 years, I go back to Lithuania often and I am very much involved with the Lithuanian community in the US."
When she was 7 she asked her mother to take her to music school and, despite initial reluctance, started learning the folk zither kankles (a plucked string instrument).
"Kankles wasn’t as popular and cool as guitar, but I was willing to try it out. I did not know that instrument. When the teacher showed me the kankles and how it sounds, I fell in love with it and played it ever since."
The following year, once they had moved to a small town where she spent the rest of her childhood, she started taking piano and singing lessons, the training covering both European classical and Lithuanian folk.
It was only when she wanted to further her musical studies that she moved to the capital Vilnius where she studied jazz vocals at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.
"Since I came from classical and folk backgrounds, jazz really intrigued me. It is such a highly technical and complicated style, but also with lots of space for creativity and improvisation.
"That was my thing — technicality and freedom at once.
"Also, at that time in Lithuania there were not that many singing styles available to study professionally. You could study classical opera singing or jazz, so I chose jazz."
After finishing her degree she felt she needed to continue her studies, so auditioned for Berkeley College of Music in Boston and received a European Touring Scholarship.
Those first years as an international student were hard as she tried to keep afloat financially by supplementing her scholarship with busking.
"It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done. International students are not allowed to work in the US, which makes it very hard to manoeuvre through financial challenges."
She graduated with a contemporary composition and production degree and stayed in Boston three more years.

"I started composing by myself right away as I started learning music. I remember that time when I came back home from my first or second music lesson and drew my own staff on a white sheet of paper and started creating my own eight-bar melodies. All of those short songs had titles of different flowers and plants. I guess after 26 years not that much has changed."
After releasing her first album she moved to New York City.
"I performed in Boston for a while, but it is not a big city. I wanted to move out where the music scene is vibrant, competitive, wildly interesting and challenging. And that’s New York! I loved it from day one."
She has found New York demanding but also liberating and that has helped her appreciate herself more.
"It’s a place where you can create and recreate yourself from scratch again and again. It’s a place where you can be creative and bold, you can experiment, and make a lot of interesting friends. That’s why I live here."
Despite this, her heritage has continued to play a big part in her music.
"Since I grew up learning folk songs, reading Lithuanian fairy tales and dancing folk dances, it’s deeply ingrained in me. My heritage comes through my lyrics, melodic lines, even through my stage presence and outfits."
It also comes through in her playing of the kankles, which she describes as a unique instrument with deep traditional roots.
"It comes from ancestral spiritual practices when Lithuania was still a pagan country. I love how the instrument sounds — the combination of that vibrant, ethereal sound and modern harmonies and rhythms make a very unique and fresh mix.
"Kankles brings that ethnic flavour to my music, modal quality. But I also try to push the boundaries of traditional playing and use different audio processing and effect pedals, so my kankles sounds more modern."
Over time she has continued to develop her musical style, which she describes as Eastern European folk-influenced jazz.
"I combined my background in Lithuanian folk music and jazz education, plus the essence of my personality — love for nature, human connection, deeply emotional life.
"It developed through many years of performing, rehearsing, collaborating with different musicians."
It is heavily influenced by her love for nature and her love of Carl Jung’s writings on it.
"I love going deep into human connection with nature. It inspires my lyric writing, my singing, and compositional techniques. I draw inspiration from seasons, plants, volcanoes, oceans, clouds ... everything that surrounds us."
Smirnova also plays the piano and theremin (an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact), as well as the guitar, which she uses for community events such as children’s music and summer camps.
"But from all of this I love singing the most. Singing comes to me very naturally and I enjoy it very much.
"Theremin is my latest musical affair. I got into it only about a year ago, hoping to incorporate it in my future shows."
Her trip to New Zealand is her first tour since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. She spent the time in lockdowns composing and teaching an online class.
"It was a good reflective time, rested from travelling. Created lots of new material and once the borders opened up, I am on the road again."
Smirnova has not been to Dunedin before but is looking forward to her fourth visit to this country.
"I fell in love with New Zealand from the first sight. It’s such a vibrant and beautiful country with poetic landscapes, creative and warm people, attentive audiences and a very unique music scene. Very excited to see Dunedin for the first time. I heard many good things, so I am very eager to experience it myself."
The smaller venues of the tour appeal, providing the opportunity to have contact with the audience.
"I love the community aspect of performance. I love feeling the local audience, getting to know them, and talking to people after the show. I love learning about new places, their history, landscape, and local anecdotes.
"All of this also is a big part of my inspiration for my creative work. I am a people person."
In Dunedin, she will be performing a duet with local jazz musician Bill Martin on piano.
The show will present Bird Language, Smirnova singing and playing the kankles.
It is the sort of performance she loves doing the most.
"I love making music with different musicians from different backgrounds, making new friends, making memories, sharing my energy and love with my audience."
She is also using the tour to awareness of climate change.
"I hope that my music will inspire us to connect to nature and to be more resourceful and mindful about consumption, recycling and daily habits."
The show
Simona Smirnova performs Bird Language at the Dunedin Folk Club, tomorrow at 7.30pm.