Originally from Monroe, Georgia, Benjamin (Ben) Smith is an avid orchestral flutist, chamber musician, and writer. Ben has held performances on major stages across France, Italy, Germany, Canada, and South Korea. He is a regular substitute musician with multiple orchestras and is a founding member of the award-winning wind quintet, ZaRiah. His past summer festival engagements include the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Festival International de Musique Classique à Puget, and Orford Musique.

Ben is pursuing his Masters of Music at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Tara Helen O’Connor. He received his Bachelors of Music studying with Alexa Still at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and, in 2022. During his time at Oberlin, Ben studied abroad in Seoul, South Korea where he studied with Minji Kim and Seonah Jang. Ben previously studied with Kelly Via at the Atlanta Music Academy.

As a writer, Ben was the featured guest author in the April 2023 edition of The Flute Examiner Magazine, where he wrote about his time studying abroad in Korea. He served as a blogger on behalf of Oberlin College’s Office of Admissions during his four years as a student, and has continued maintaining a personal blog on his website.