Cellist Emily Austin Smith has maintained an active teaching and performing career in Durham, North Carolina. She currently performs with the Durham Symphony, the Fayetteville Symphony, and the Duke New Music Ensemble, as a substitute with the North Carolina Symphony, and in various chamber music settings. She teaches a private studio of cello students both in her home and at High Strung School of Music in Durham, and works at the Durham nucleo of Kidznotes, an El Sistema inspired orchestral training program.

Emily has attended the Texas Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Encore School for Strings, Indiana University Summer String Academy, Kansas City String Quartet Program, and the Heartland Chamber Music Academy, where she appeared as a soloist with the chamber orchestra at the age of 14. While a student in Baltimore, Emily performed with the Occasional Symphony, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and the Peabody Camerata, and was involved with Classical Revolution Baltimore and the Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids program.

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