Called “intense, precise, and full of personality,” after appearing as concerto soloist in Lincoln Center with The Juilliard Orchestra (OperaClick), Caeli Smith is an award-winning violinist, violist, educator, and entrepreneur. She is an alum of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, a two-year fellowship program for the finest young professional classical musicians in the United States, and is a member of the New York Philharmonic Teaching Artist faculty. Caeli has performed internationally with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Knights, Sejong Soloists, Jordi Savall, the Verbier Chamber Orchestra, and the hip-hop collective Shouthouse.

Caeli is a teaching assistant for the ACHT studio at The Juilliard School where she works with undergraduate and graduate students. She holds two degrees from The Juilliard School: a bachelor’s degree in violin performance and a master’s degree in viola performance. Upon graduating, Caeli received the William Schuman Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. Caeli is currently enrolled at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she is working towards a Masters in Education in Arts and Learning. She is passionate about working towards equitable solutions in music education and deeper learning for all students.

Caeli has written for radio, TV, and print, and her articles have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as Strings, Teen Strings, and Symphony magazines. As a teen, Caeli was the Roving Reporter for NPR’s From The Top, a national radio and TV program dedicated to the discovery of young musicians. She is also known to Philadelphia audiences as the street violinist starring in Robert Downey Sr.’s documentary Rittenhouse Square.