Toronto-born cellist Alexander Smith began lessons at the age of 3. He has performed extensively across the United States and Canada, and has been featured on The Violin Channel, National Public Radio, and Interlochen Public Radio, as well as being recognized as a From The Top artist. Alexander is currently pursuing a Master of Music at The New England Conservatory, studying under Blaise Déjardin and Yeesun Kim. Previously, he attended Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, studying with Dr. Felix Wang while enrolled in a dual-degree program in Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Alexander has studied under renowned musicians such as Anssi Kartunnen, Edgar Meyer, Hans Jørgen Jensen, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Johannes Moser, Lluís Claret, Marc Coppey, Paul Watkins, and Zlatomir Fung, among others. He was awarded the 2019 Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Young Artist Award and the 2021 Jean Keller Heard Prize for Excellence in String Performance. Alexander holds a diploma with honours from the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he was also a finalist in the Interlochen Concerto Competition.
From 2019 to 2023, Alexander served as the cellist of the Eunoia String Quartet, performing as part of a residency at Southern Illinois University. The quartet won First Prize in MTNA’s National Chamber Music Competition and received laureate distinctions at the Coltman and Plowman Chamber Competitions. Alexander was also selected for the Harold I. Pratt Early Music Fellowship, focusing on baroque performance and participating in a 17th-century ensemble led by Guy Fishman.
Alexander has a strong passion for contemporary music, having performed notable works such as George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae under conductor Hugh Wolff, collaborating closely with Pascal Le Boeuf, and premiering works adapted to silent film by Maria Newman. In 2023, he commissioned and premiered two new environment-inspired works for solo cello by composers Nicholas Edwards and Hao Zhen.
He currently performs on a poplar Ruggieri-model cello crafted in 2021 by British-American maker Andrew Carruthers, paired with a purpleheart bow made in 2018 by Bernard Walke in Ottawa.