Juliet White-Smith
(2008-2011)
A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, violist Juliet White-Smith continues to enjoy an illustrious performing and teaching career. She has appeared as soloist with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the Fort Collins Symphony, and Centennial (now Denver) Philharmonic. As an orchestral musician, she has performed in the viola sections of the Rochester Philharmonic, Columbus (OH) Symphony, Grand Rapids (MI) Symphony, and the Houston Grand Opera orchestras.
In demand as a master teacher and clinician, Dr. White-Smith has presented master classes in the United States and around the world at music festivals and institutions including Rice University’s Shepherd School, the Eastman School of Music, and Mahidol University in Thailand. In December 2016, she was an invited presenter for the 70th anniversary celebration of the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and as the pre-college viola master class clinician for the 2012 conference of the American String Teachers Association. She was featured in “Ask the Teacher” in the April 2010 issue of The Strad, and her views on pedagogy, talent, and effective practice techniques have appeared in articles in Strings and American String Teacher. She is a frequent adjudicator for international music competitions and has served on the jury for the William Primrose International Viola Competition on multiple occasions.
An advocate for all things viola, White-Smith served as President of the American Viola Society from 2008-11. She has recorded on the Centaur Records label, and her album Fashionably Late: Juliet White-Smith Debuts! features the premiere recording of Pulitzer Prize winner George Walker’s Viola Sonata (1989).
White-Smith joined the Artist-Faculty at the Brevard Music Festival in 2018. She is currently Professor of Viola at The Ohio State University. She previously served on the faculties at the University of Northern Colorado and Western Michigan University. She holds degrees from Louisiana State University and the University of Houston and earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music. Her major teachers include violists George Taylor and Lawrence Wheeler and violinists Sally O’Reilly and Fredell Lack.