Katherine Smith

An active performer and teacher, Katherine Marie Smith is Assistant Lecturer of Horn at the University of Wyoming, Fourth Horn of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, Principal Horn of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, Second Horn of the Fort Collins Symphony, served as Acting Principal Horn of the Boulder Chamber Orchestra this past Spring, and is on the sublists of numerous orchestras around the country including the Colorado and Charlotte Symphony Orchestras and the Colorado Music Festival. While pursuing her undergraduate degree with David Jolley at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, she had the privilege of performing with a wide variety of ensembles in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Avery Fischer Hall. In 2005, while attending the North Carolina School of the Arts high school, Katherine was the winner of the Southeast Horn Workshop High School Solo Competition, and in 2009, she won the Columbia University Bach Society Concerto Competition. Katherine received her Master of Music degree from Northwestern University where she studied with Gail Williams and William Barnewitz. After receiving her MM, Katherine was invited to play with the North Carolina Symphony as Assistant Principal/Utility Horn during their 2011-2012 season. In 2016, Katherine had the opportunity to fill in last-minute as soloist with the Wyoming Symphony, and in May she had the honor of performing in a one-time, hand-picked Brass and Percussion Ensemble of Northwestern University Alumni. A regular in the indie folk scene, Katherine has recorded on 4 different indie folk albums and performed at Red Rocks Amphitheater with Gregory Alan Isakov and Elephant Revival. During the summer of 2016, she had the unique opportunity to tour the country with Gregory Alan Isakov and the Ghost Orchestra.

A self-proclaimed teaching addict, in addition to teaching at UW, Katherine spent the 2013 spring semester as interim instructor of horn and is a former Doctor of Musical Arts in Horn Performance and Pedagogy candidate at the University of Colorado at Boulder where she was a Teaching Assistant and studied with Michael Thornton. She has served on the faculty of several music camps and workshops and has been a guest adjudicator for many competitions and auditions.

Katherine has had the privilege of performing with dozens of different chamber ensembles including the award-winning wind quintet, 40th Parallel. Katherine is currently a member of the Snowy Range Brass and the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra Brass and Woodwind Quintets and performs regularly with chamber music groups throughout the area. She is incredibly thrilled to have the opportunity to perform in such a variety of ensembles while also actively exercising her teaching skills in beautiful Wyoming and Colorado.