Michael Robert Smith (b. 1989) is an award-winning composer of contemporary concert music. His music has been described as “Relatively simple, elegantly-turned, beautifully vocal music with a compelling through-line from start to finish” (Gabriel Jackson) and as “Mesmerizing, beautiful, and inventive” (Lori Laitman). He has been commissioned and performed by The Crossing, Chorosynthesis, Mouthscape, the SFCM New Music Ensemble, soprano Winnie Neih, The Glassbrook Vocal Ensemble, Pianist Josh Wilson, Singing City, The Commonwealth Club of California, cellist Nadia Geier, Ensemble for These Times, violinist Sam Weiser, Convoco, and the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia.

Michael has won multiple awards and prizes, including the 1st place prize in the SFCM Biennial Choral Composition competition, 2nd place prize in the SFCM Biennial Art Song Competition, the Commonwealth Club of California’s Fanfare Commission, and Third Place in the American Prize in Composition for Large Scale Choral Works. He also received an honorable mention in the 2022 National Association of Teachers of Singing’s Art Song Composition Competition.

In addition to composing, Michael is an active choral performer and church musician, as well as a conductor. He has performed with many prestigious institutions including the New York Philharmonic, The London Philharmonia, the Philadelphia Orchestra (featured soloist), and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra as a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir.