American-born violinist Michael Lawrence Smith is a rising and multifaceted classical musician. He has toured internationally as soloist and served as concertmaster and featured soloist for the Denver Young Artists Orchestra, Denver School of the Arts Advanced Orchestra, and Greater Boulder Youth Orchestra as well as Associate Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony for their annual side-by-side concert. Professionally, Smith currently performs as Associate Concertmaster of the Longmont Symphony Orchestra and as a member of the Boulder Bach Festival’s (BBF) CORE Ensemble following his residency as a Fellowship artist with the ensemble for the past two seasons. During his time as Fellow, Smith performed alongside violinist Vadim Gluzman and participated in the BBF’s first ever recorded CD which was released by the Multi- GRAMMY® Award-winning label Sono Luminus to great critical acclaim.
In 2023, Smith was invited to participate in the Harpa International Music Academy in Reykjavik, Iceland. He also attended the Aspen Music Festival and School in 2022 as a fellowship student in the studios of Robert Chen and Naoko Tanaka. Other festival appearances include the Meadowmount School of Music, Vilacello String and Piano Festival, and Rocky Ridge Music Center Young Artist Programs. An avid chamber musician, he feels honored to have learned from members of the Takács, Cavani, Miró, Cleveland, Miami, and Danish String Quartets as well as Quatour Modigliani and Eighth Blackbird. He has coached and performed in masterclasses with Gil Shaham, Midori Goto, Stephen Waarts, James Dunham, Timothy Chooi, Stephanie Jeong, Vadim Gluzman, Si-Yan Darren Li, Francesca dePasquale, and Károly Schranz among others.
He is currently completing his undergraduate degree at Oberlin College and Conservatory under Sigurbjörn Bernharðsson. He previously studied with Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes of the Takács Quartet and Paul Kantor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
He plays a 2017 Eduard Miller violin alongside a W.E. Hill & Sons bow.