Dr. Blake Smith, tenor, is in his first year as Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at the University of Delaware. He teaches Applied Voice, Diction, and is Co-Director of UD Opera Theatre, the University of Delaware's Opera Workshop. A native of Texas, he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Texas at Tyler, where he was a student of soprano Robin Flood-Fincher and tenor Mark Johnson. He then completed Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees at Texas Tech University under the direction of legendary oratorio and concert tenor Karl Dent.

Dr. Smith has appeared extensively in operatic, oratorio and concert repertoire throughout Texas and the Midwest. He has garnered special attention for his performances of the oratorios of Handel, the operas of Mozart, and the art song and vocal chamber repertoire of the English Musical Renaissance. His recent operatic credits include roles from Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito (Tito), Die Zauberflöte (Tamino), Così fan tutte (Ferrando), Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera (Ricardo), Bizet's Carmen (Don Jose), Penhorwood's Too Many Sopranos (Enrico Carouser), and the English-language premiere of Massenet's Le Portrait de Manon (Tibérge).

His solo concert engagements have allowed him to work with some of the finest choral conductors in the world, including the late Robert Shaw's protégé, Donald Neuen (Eastman School of Music/UCLA/Crystal Cathedral Choir), David Hill (The Bach Choir/Cambridge University), and Anton Armstrong (St. Olaf College). Recent concert engagements included numerous performances of works by Handel (Messiah), Mendelssohn (Elijah), Haydn (Creation and Lord Nelson Mass), Bach (Magnificat, St. John's Passion, and numerous cantatas), Mozart (Requiem, Coronation Mass, and Missa Brevis in D Major), Schubert (Mass in G Major) and Ramírez (Missa Criolla).

As a recitalist, Dr. Smith has great success with English music of the early and middle twentieth century. He will be reviving a program of Britten and Finzi song cycles in October of 2007 and will perform Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the University of Delaware Symphony Orchestra in March of 2008. His doctoral lecture recital and monograph were based on the vocal chamber works of Ralph Vaughan Williams and included performances from the cycles On Wenlock Edge, Four Hymns, Merciless Beauty, Along the Field and Ten Blake Songs.

He has also had the privilege of performing in master classes with many singers and teachers of note, including William Warfield, Dr. Robert Sataloff, John Spong, Dr. Thomas Cleveland, and Graham Johnson.