Originally from Monroe, Georgia, Benjamin (Ben) Smith is an avid orchestral flutist and chamber musician. As a soloist and chamber musician, Ben has held performances on major stages across France, Italy, Germany, Canada, and South Korea. He is a regular substitute musician with multiple orchestras and is a founding member of the award-winning wind quintet, ZaRiah. Last year, Ben was featured on the 2024 National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic’s American Classics album under the baton of David Alan Miller. He has performed in masterclasses for esteemed artists such as Matthieu Gauci-Ancelin, Beatriz Macías, Sooyun Kim, Carol Wincenc, Aaron Goldman, and Amanda Blaikie, among others. His past summer festival engagements include the National Orchestral Institute, Festival International de Musique Classique à Puget, and Orford Musique.
An advocate of new music, Ben arranged Hisatada Otaka’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, op. 30b for flute choir and performed the work as soloist with the Oberlin flute studio in 2022. That same year, Ben gave the Canadian debut of Sang-jin Kim’s Moonshine Ride at Orford Musique as part of the Rising Stars Concert Series. In 2024, he performed at the Bang on a Can Long Play Festival in Brooklyn, New York as a member of the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble.
As a writer, Ben was the featured guest author in the April 2023 edition of The Flute Examiner Magazine, where he wrote about his time studying abroad in Korea. He served as a blogger on behalf of Oberlin College’s Office of Admissions during his four years as a student, and has continued maintaining a personal blog on his website.
Ben is pursuing his Masters of Music at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Tara Helen O’Connor. He received his Bachelors of Music studying with Alexa Still at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and, in 2022, he lived in Seoul, South Korea where he studied with Minji Kim and Seonah Jang. Ben previously studied with Kelly Via at the Atlanta Music Academy.
Outside of his time in the classical sphere, Ben creates video game OST arrangements under the alias ‘fluteyloops.’ Ben has amassed over 170,000 streams on Spotify and enjoys finding and listening to new soundtracks.
Summer Festivals
2025 Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (USA)
2023 National Orchestral Institute and Festival (USA)
2022 Festival International de Musique Classique à Puget (France)
2022 Orford Musique (Canada)
2021 Flauti al Castello (Italy)
2019 Interlochen Summer Arts Camp
2018 Sewanee Summer Music Festival
Exchange Programs
Hanyang University Visiting Student Program (South Korea)
Yonsei University International Summer School (South Korea)
Ben Smith - Flutist & Music Journalist 