Paul Smith
Director, Tune Up Philly - Orchestral Pathways Program; Director, Pizzicato Players
Mr. Smith is an active composer, recording artist, and educator. With over 20 years of work-force experience in developing and consulting intensive and life-changing music programs in urban settings, Mr. Smith has impacted hundreds of students annually through a portfolio of approaches that includes cultivating new generations of teaching artists who possess a 21st century toolkit. Mr. Smith is most proud of having mentored Tune Up Philly students successfully into every pathway program and audition-based ensemble within Philadelphia. Mr. Smith was recently a featured lecturer at PYOMI in 2020-21 presenting “Cosmic Chorales” a study into the organic and the mutational legacy of The Chorale from Western Europe to 20th Century Americas. Mr. Smith was also a featured presenter in the digital 2021/22 YOLA National Take A Stand Symposium lecturing on “Graphic Pathways” and analyzing his “Suite for Young Orchestra” – premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra, under Maestro Cristian Măcelaru in 2014. Mr. Smith has appeared in three full-length studio recordings premiering the Solo Classical Guitar Compositions of David Loeb (Mannes College of Music, Curtis Institute of Music) released on the Vienna Modern Masters and Centaur Record Labels as a D’Addario Artist. His latest release, “Painting, Landscape, Text & Sky” features works inspired by the late 19th/early 20th century Prague painter, Jakub Schikaneder. Mr. Smith received his Bachelors of Music from the Mannes College of Music where he received the Associated Music Teacher’s Award in 2006. Mr. Smith received his Masters of Music from the Juilliard School, where he received the McCabe Teaching Artist Fellowship and was a recipient of a Hearst Foundation Scholarship, assisting his premiere of Robert Cuckson’s Concerto for Guitar, under Maestro David Hayes and the Mannes Composer’s Orchestra.