Daniel J. Smith, baritone is a native of North Carolina. He is a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia with a Master of Music in Vocal Performance. While In graduate school, Smith studied in Amalfi Coast, Italy for three summers. He is an alumnus of Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Music Business.
Most recently Smith debuted “Dew” a piece from Our Queer Mother, Gabriela, composed by Emily Lau, with text by Gabriella Mistral, Langston Hughes, and Jackson Sade.
Smith also debuted the role of The Invisible Man in The Burning Bush, composed by Jasmine Barnes and Joshua Banbury, librettist. The Burning Bush is a part of The Cartography, a new curatorial music program led by the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera.
Smith also appeared as Elephant Geralard in Slopera! A bite-size opera based on Mo Willems’ book, I Really Like Slop! Slopera is a 20-minute children’s opera with music by the Kennedy Center’s Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon.
In 2019 Smith joined the cast of Stirring the Waters Across America and Devine, Hamer, Gray: A New American Musical (in development). Roles include Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas); King Melchior (Amahl and the Night Visitors); L’horloge comtoise (L’enfant et les sortilèges); Marcello (La Bohème); Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance); Antonio (The Marriage of Figaro); George, Earl of Mountararat (Iolanthe); and scenes from Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and La Cenerentola, all with Mason Opera. He has also performed as Barone Douphol in La traviata (Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra), Zodzetrick in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha (Opera Northern Virginia), and Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro and Papageno in The Magic Flute (Almalfi Coast International Music Festival). Smith placed in the state and regional National Association of Teachers of Singing competitions and was a semi-finalist at the 2019 Classical Singer Convention. As a featured soloist, Smith appeared with the Winston-Salem State University Choir; the Ben Holt Memorial Branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians; the World Federation of Friends of Museums; and in I Am My Ancestors, a concert sponsored by I Am Confidence.