Biography

Based in Central Florida, cellist Emily Austin Smith is active as a performer and teacher. She joined the cello section of the Orlando Philharmonic in 2022 and has performed with orchestras throughout the Southeast, including the Ocala Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Gainesville Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Fayetteville Symphony (NC), and North Carolina Symphony. A champion of contemporary music, Emily has performed new works throughout the Eastern United States, including at CAMPGround Festival, Weekend of Chamber Music, and Spoleto Festival USA, and with the Duke New Music Ensemble, Occasional Symphony, and Peabody Camerata. She served as co-founder, Executive Director, and cellist of WireTap New Music Ensemble in Durham, North Carolina from 2016-18, and in 2020 she gave the world premiere of a solo cello piece written by her husband, composer Scott Lee, at the Florida State Music Teachers Association’s virtual conference. 

Emily has performed in a number of orchestral and chamber music festivals across the country, including Spoleto Festival USA, Weekend of Chamber Music, Texas Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, ENCORE School for Strings, and the Indiana University Summer String Academy. She has worked with members of the Takacs, Emerson, Cavani, Lark, Shanghai, Juilliard, and Jupiter Quartets, and has studied with Alison Wells, Amir Eldan, Brinton Averil Smith, and Eric Kim, and participated in masterclasses with Richard Aaron, Susan Moses, Gary Hoffman, and Jeffrey Solow. During her time at the Peabody Institute and The Johns Hopkins University, Emily was the recipient of the B&O Women's Club Award in Performance and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society.

For 14 years, Emily has taught students of all ages and levels in a variety of settings, and has received Suzuki teacher training from esteemed pedagogues Dr. Tanya Carey and Ronda Cole. She completed her Master of Music degree in Cello Performance and Pedagogy at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, where she was mentored by Bai-Chi Chen of the Peabody Preparatory Institute. While in Baltimore, Emily taught in the orchestral program at the Baltimore School for the Arts and was a regular substitute teacher at OrchKids, the Baltimore Symphony’s El Sistema inspired after-school orchestra program. Emily also served as an administrator at Kidznotes, an El Sistema inspired program in the Triangle region of North Carolina. 

Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Emily completed her bachelor’s degrees in Cello Performance and English and her master’s degree in Cello Performance and Pedagogy at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where she studied with Alan Stepansky, former Associate Principal Cellist of the New York Philharmonic. During her time at the Peabody Institute and the Johns Hopkins University, Emily was the recipient of the B&O Women’s Club Award in Performance and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She currently lives in Gainesville with her husband, two young sons, and their scruffy dog Lily.