Audrey Smith is a harpist based in Cincinnati, Ohio and Nashville, Tennessee. She is a junior scholarship recipient at Belmont University studying Classical Harp Performance with Dr. Sarah K. Crocker. Audrey began harp lessons in January of 2017 after receiving them as a Christmas gift. She first studied with Dr. Alaina Graiser followed by Kathleen Miguel who was her teacher through the summer of 2023. Before beginning harp, she took piano lessons from her grandmother and participated in her school choir. Her passion for the harp began when she saw Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker performed by the Dayton Ballet. Audrey received the first prize of the 2024 Marker and Pioneer International Music Competition in the solo harp category. She currently is co-principal harp of Belmont’s Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. Last winter she was featured in “Christmas at Belmont Live from Nashville” which was streamed to a global audience on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch. She was also honored to serve as principal harp for several notable occasions and ensembles in Nashville for the 2023-2024 season: violinist Jenny Oaks Baker’s “The Redeemer: Music on the Life of Jesus the Christ” at Tennessee Performing Arts Center, composer-in-residence Bruce Broughton with the Green Hills Wind Symphony, Fauré and Ellingboe Requiems at local churches, as well as achieving her dream of performing as principal harp of The Nutcracker with the Middle Tennessee Sinfonietta.

In previous summers she attended the MasterWorks Festival located in Spartanburg, South Carolina (2022) and Campbellsville, Kentucky (2023,2024) where she performed as principal harp in Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier Suite, Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. In 2023 she was selected to participate in MasterWorks’ s Solo Honors Recital performing Impromptu Caprice by Pierné. In 2024 Audrey attended the Young Artist’s Harp Seminar in Chestertown, Maryland, where she received an honorable mention for Debussy’s Danses in the concerto competition and was a finalist in Mock Audition Competition. She performed Tournier’s Au Matin in a masterclass with Mariko Anraku, and was a member of a harp quartet with where they performed Cuban Dream After the Storm by Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, Prelude in C-sharp Minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff (arr. by Willi Maerz), and Sonata in A Major K24 and Sonata in B Minor K27 by Domenico Scarlatti (arr. by Laura Oetzel and Daniel Mattelé.)  

Throughout early high school and middle school Audrey participated in harp ensembles led by Dr. Alaina Graiser and Kathleen Miguel. She also accompanied her school choir and was a member of the Dayton Youth Philharmonic Orchestra for their 2022-2023 season where she was principal harp in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.

Audrey also has a passion for musical theater and voice and loves to incorporate them with harp.  She currently is building her private harp studio and arranges showtunes, Christian, holiday, and pop music for harp.  

Short Bio

Audrey Smith is a junior scholarship recipient at Belmont University studying Classical Harp Performance with Dr. Sarah K. Crocker. In 2017 she began her harp studies with Dr. Alaina Graiser followed by Kathleen Miguel after being inspired by Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. She received the first prize of the 2024 Marker and Pioneer International Music Competition in the solo harp category. Audrey has served as principal harp in the Green Hills Wind Symphony, Middle Tennessee Sinfonietta, MasterWorks Festival Orchestra, and Belmont Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. In the summer of 2024, she attended the Young Artist’s Harp Seminar, where she received an honorable mention for Debussy’s Danses in the concerto competition and was a finalist in Mock Audition Competition. Last winter she was featured in “Christmas at Belmont Live from Nashville” which was streamed to a global audience on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch. Audrey also has a passion for musical theater and voice and loves to incorporate them with harp.  She currently is building her private harp studio and arranges showtunes, Christian, holiday, and pop music for harp.