John Jeter is presently in his twenty-fifth season as the Music Director and Conductor of the Fort Smith Symphony. With the tremendous help and support of wonderful musicians, professional staff, board of directors and the community, Mr. Jeter has led the transformation of a small community symphony to a large, fully-professional regional orchestra. In 2002, John and the orchestra were recognized by the League of American Orchestras for their outstanding work with John being the recipient of the League’s Helen M. Thompson Award “in recognition of outstanding artistic leadership.” The Music Director and orchestra have been acknowledged with the Mayor’s Achievement Award presented by the City of Fort Smith and the Mayor’s Civic Center Award for the Performing Arts. Mr. Jeter is the recipient of the 2012 Governor’s Arts Award “Individual Artist Award.”

Mr. Jeter’s interest in music education has led to the creation of numerous educational programs, ensembles and community projects. These activities include new ensembles such as the Kool Catz Jazz Quartet and JoltTM electronic string quartet. The symphony’s ongoing Earquake!TM concerts for sixth grade students, created by Mr. Jeter thirteen years ago, have exposed thousands of students to music employing multi-media and large symphony orchestra. His efforts have led to the Fort Smith Symphony’s international recordings on Naxos (the world’s largest classical recording company) as well as a feature length film festival documentary about the Symphony called “Extreme Orchestra.” Mr. Jeter’s support of new music has resulted in the Fort Smith Symphony commissioning many works given their world premieres in Fort Smith. For approximately ten years, Mr. Jeter was co-host of “Conductor’s Choice” with P.J.Robowski on KUAF National Public Radio. He is still a regular guest on media outlets throughout the region.