Australian and Danish conductor Alexander Colding Smith’s precise, elegant performances cover traditional orchestral and operatic repertoire as well as the works of living composers.

Recent performances include orchestral works of Poulenc and Verdi, a fully staged production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, a concert with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), and serving as the assistant conductor during the workshops for the world premiere Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears at Cincinnati Opera. Additional highlights from this past season include a performance of Idomeneo at CCM Opera, educational outreach concerts with concert: nova, and conducting Cincinnati Soundbox’s New Concerto Project.

In August 2014 at the inaugural Gstaad Conducting Academy led by Professors Neeme Järvi, Leonid Grin and Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Alexander conducted the Gstaad Festival Orchestra during the Menuhin Festival. Earlier in 2014 he assisted Eugene Onegin with Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House. As a student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2013, Alexander conducted the SCM Modern Music Ensemble in a concert of contemporary music “Danish Voices” and assisted Britten’s “War Requiem”. In 2011 and 2012, as core participant in the Symphony Services International Conductor Development Program, he conducted the Adelaide, Melbourne, Queensland Symphony and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestras, studying with teachers including Johannes Fritzsch and Bernard Labadie. He was a core member of the Australian Youth Orchestra as a violist in the 2008 and 2010 seasons, touring China and Europe, and participated in the Australian Youth Orchestra – Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (AYO- TSO) in Concert.

Alexander is a graduate of the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, USA, where he studied conducting with Mark Gibson as a graduate assistant. He serves as the Outreach Director for Cincinnati Soundbox, which promotes and performs the new music of composers from across the United States.