GRAMMY and Emmy-winning baritone Reginald Smith, Jr., the 2021 U.S. representative at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, has been lauded as a “passionate performer” (The New York Times) with a voice that is “electric, hall-filling” (The Baltimore Sun), “thrillingly dramatic” (Opera News) and “one of the most exciting baritone sounds to come along in years” (Opera News). Smith, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, is a Grand Finals winner of the 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio.

In the run-up to his 2023–2024 season, Smith makes his Santa Fe Opera debut as Scarpia in Tosca. As the season gets underway, he returns to the Houston Grand Opera to take the title role in Falstaff. Among his other operatic appearances, he will sing the roles of Emile Griffith in Champion and of Amonasro in Aida at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and appear with the Dayton Opera as Scarpia and with Opera Memphis as Marcello in La bohème.

During the 2022–2023 season, Smith returned to the Houston Grand Opera as Pascoe in Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers and made his Fort Worth Opera debut as Amonasro in Aida.

The 2021–2022 season marked Smith’s debuts with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Uncle Paul in Terrence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, with the San Diego Opera as Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, and with Charleston’s Holy City Arts and Lyric Opera as Germont in La Traviata. He scored a personal triumph as Castor in the world premiere of Gregory Spears’ Castor and Patience at the Cincinnati Opera.

In the course of his operatic career, Smith has performed with leading companies worldwide. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2019 as Jim in Porgy and Bess, winning a 2021 GRAMMY Award (Best Opera Recording) for the album made from that production. Other highlights include his 2018 Portland Opera debut as Monterone in Rigoletto and his 2017 Dallas Opera debut as Bonzo in Madame Butterfly.

In concert, he has performed with the National Chorale at Lincoln Center. Alongside the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Dallas-based WFAA-TV, he shared in a Lone Star Regional Emmy Award as the featured soloist in the DSO’s 2018 Christmas Pops concert.

Born in Atlanta, Smith grew up a dedicated choral student from elementary school onward. His formative experiences as a music student inspired him to take a double major in Vocal Performance and Choral Music Education at the University of Kentucky, where he earned degrees in both. While he ultimately chose a performance career, he has channeled his love of teaching into numerous masterclasses, where he is known as a highly knowledgeable and engaging presenter. Learn more at reginaldsmithjr.com.