Jacob Miller Smith(b. 1992) holds a B.M. and M.M. in Music Composition from the University of Alabama and is pursuing a D.M.A. in Music Composition from Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ.
He has studied composition with C. P. First, Peter Westergaard, Amir Zaheri, Jody Rockmaker, and Garth Paine as well as conducting with Amir Zaheri. He is an active collaborator with student performers and groups, and has had numerous performances across the US, as well as South America, Europe, and Canada. His work and research primarily involve the influence of nature as well as interdisciplinary collaboration. Most recently, Jacob has been interested in water as a subject and influence in many forms both compositionally and as a research area. He is a member of ASU’s Acoustic Ecology Lab, led by Sabine Feisst and Garth Paine where he helps maintain various projects and their field recording database. His fixed media work Subsurface was presented at the 2018 ICMC held in Daegu, South Korea as well as the 2019 Tutti Festival at Denison University. In 2018, he composed seep, unwrought in collaboration with the Phoenix Art Museum in response to the painting "Desert Rain God" by Louisa McElwain. In late 2019, Jacob began work in collaboration with visual artist Ellen Wagener to be featured at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. He has composed for soprano Amy Little, the Herberger String Quartet, and pianist Luciane Cardassi, among others. Jacob Miller Smith is a member of the Society of Composers Inc. (SCI), the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and the International Computer Music Association (ICMA). He hopes to continue composing, conducting, teaching, and collaborating throughout his career.