Most recently, he has received recognition by winning two prestigious and highly sought after Principal Horn positions in Philadelphia. In February, he won Principal Horn with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in competition with 60 top-tier professional horn players from the United States and other countries.
Earlier he won Principal Horn with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and will make his debut with the company in a performance of Bellini's Norma, April 4-18.
Smith is unique among horn players in holding a doctoral degree and having a full-time faculty position while also performing with top-tier professional ensembles, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera.
Smith also has an upcoming performance at the University with the UD Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m., Friday, March 14, and at 3 p.m., Sunday, March 16, in the Puglisi Orchestra Hall of the Roselle Center for the Arts. He will be playing Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, also featuring fellow faculty member Blake Smith.
Smith said he is excited about UD's music department and programs, which increasingly attract high quality students. Smith is taking the UD Horn Ensemble by invitation of the organizers to the 40th annual International Horn Society Symposium in Denver this July. “This will be a great opportunity not only for others to hear University of Delaware students perform but for them to hear some terrific horn players,” Smith said.
Being both a performer who is in demand and a teacher and professor is a challenge and keeps Smith on the move between New York, Philadelphia and Newark. But, Smith said, his students profit from his involvement with orchestras in the region by musicians coming to campus or by opportunities to attend concerts and other musical events.
Smith has been on tour in the United States with the San Francisco Orchestra, Europe and the United States with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Southeast Asia with the New York Symphonic Ensemble.
Upcoming performances include performances with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Smith began playing the horn in seventh grade in Hampton, Va. While in high school, he had an opportunity to attend a summer program at Indiana University with legendary horn player Philip Farkas, which decided him on a career in music.
Smith received his bachelor's degree from Indiana University and then served with the U.S. Air Force Band for four years. He received his master of music degree in 1994 and a doctorate in musical arts degree at Juilliard School, sandwiching in a year at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he received two diplomas, the Certificate of Advanced Studies and Brass Teacher Licentiate. He also completed examinations to become an Associate of the Royal College of Music.
While at Juilliard, Smith won both the Juilliard horn competition , which resulted in a solo appearance at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall with the Juilliard Orchestra, and the Aspen Music Festival's brass and woodwinds concerto competition, which earned him a solo performance with the festival orchestra. In addition, he was selected by audition for two appearances at the prestigious Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.
He also performed at the Spoleto Festival USA and in Italy and served as brass faculty coordinator at the Institute of Musical Studies festival in Graz, Austria, and as artist-in-residence at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2004. Smith has performed for numerous Broadway musicals as well while a freelance musician in New York.
From 2002-2003, Smith served as Principal Horn of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and was a faculty member of Lynn University in Boca Raton and the University of Louisiana-Monroe before coming to UD in 2004.
Article by Sue Moncure
Photo by Kathy Atkinson