James Austin Smith
Praised for his "dazzling," "virtuosic," and “brilliant” performances (The New York Times), oboist James Austin Smith performs equal parts new and old music across the United States and around the world. He is a member of Chamber Music Society Two, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Talea Ensemble and Decoda, as well as a regular guest of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Cygnus. His festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Marlboro, Lucerne, Chamber Music Northwest, Schleswig-Holstein, Stellenbosch, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, OK Mozart, Schwetzingen, and Spoleto USA; he has performed with the St. Lawrence and Orion string quartets and recorded for the Nonesuch, Bridge, Mode, and Kairos labels. Mr. Smith received his Master of Music degree in 2008 from the Yale School of Music and graduated in 2005 with Bachelor of Arts (in political science) and Bachelor of Music degrees from Northwestern University. He spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Leipzig, Germany at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” and is an alumnus of "The Academy," a collaboration of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, the Weill Music Institute, and the New York City Department of Education. His principal teachers are Stephen Taylor, Christian Wetzel, Humbert Lucarelli, Hansjörg Schellenberger, and Ray Still. In the fall of 2012 he joined the faculty at SUNY Purchase. The son of musician parents and eldest of four boys, Mr. Smith was born in New York and raised in Connecticut.