BIOGRAPHY
A decade of performance excellence, vibrant teaching, and conducting.
Dr. Jordan P. Smith is a New Jersey-based saxophonist and conductor. He completed his D.M.A. at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, where he studied with Dr. Paul Cohen. He holds an M.M. degree in Saxophone Performance from Manhattan School of Music (MSM) and a B.M. in Music Education from The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), where he studied with Kathleen Mitchell. He has completed additional studies with Dr. John Sampen, Ken Radnofsky, Jean-Michel Goury, and the Rascher Saxophone Quartet.
With reviews praising his “liquid tone”, saxophonist Dr. Jordan P. Smith has concertized extensively throughout the United States and internationally in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Greece as a soloist, conductor, and chamber musician. As an orchestral member, he has performed with the New World Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Bravura Philharmonic, Sifodec Orchestra, and numerous other ensembles under acclaimed conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Robert Spano, H. Robert Reynolds, and Eugene Corporon. During the past decade, Dr. Smith’s performances have led him to Haydn Hall in Eisenstadt, Austria, Betlémská kaple in Prague, Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Auditorium, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, the Tenri Cultural Institute, Symphony Space in NYC, Yamaha Concert Hall in New York City, and Eisenhower Hall at West Point. In October of 2023, Dr. Smith will perform the Lars-Erik Larsson Concerto with the Monmouth Symphony.
Performing as a chamber musician originally based in New York City and a strong proponent of new music, Dr. Smith has premiered over 30 works by composers from around the world including Volodymyr Runchak, Mark Stambaugh, Marilyn Shrude, David Noon, Hayes Biggs, Marc-Antonio Consoli, James Adler, Robert McMahan, Steve Cohen, Rex Isenberg, and many more. He is also a member of the Manhattan Saxophone Quartet (MSQ), which has premiered and commissioned numerous works by leading NYC and international composers. MSQ returned to Lincoln Center for their semi-annual performance at the Bruno Walter Auditorium on January 25, 2020 for a program entitled Le Saxophone Français.
As a conductor, Dr. Smith is the director of the renowned Saxophone Program of Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey (YOCJ), the only program of its kind in the United States. At YOCJ, an average of 40 talented saxophonists each year in grades 6-12 perform in a saxophone orchestra setting consisting of sopranino through bass saxophone, and yearly premiere works by composers from around the world, in addition to orchestral transcriptions and saxophone ensemble standards. The saxophone program recently toured Vienna and Prague in 2014, Germany in 2017, and will be traveling abroad again soon. Dr. Smith is also an Adjunct Professor at Saint Peter's University in Jersey City, NJ where he teaches music history and maintains a large private teaching studio in Hightstown, NJ. His students have been accepted to Northwestern University, the Peabody Institute, Vanderbilt University, and more.
An avid researcher and writer, Dr. Smith has been featured in numerous publications, including in the Saxophone Symposium for his research on Jules Massenet, and the Saxophone Journal for an article about Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé Suite. In recent years, he has been published several times in TEMPO Magazine for articles ranging from the use of saxophone ensembles in public school to the intersection of sports and music. He can be heard on the CD Sculpting the Air: Modern Works for Wind Instruments for the premiere recording of James Adler's Reverie, Interrupted in addition to other recordings on Ravello, Blue Griffin, and Carrier Records.
