Meet the Artist: Mark Charles Smith

Composer and guitarist Mark Charles Smith is a native of Greensboro, North Carolina. His compositions have been performed in diverse venues across nine different states.  

Smith recently took time from away from his work as composer, recording artist and educator to speak with WFDD Radio Camper Gabriela Costa.

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Mr.Smith came to meet me in the Cultral Art Center, where he took lessons for guitar with Camie Rowen. He came in wearing a NASA Shirt and khaki shorts. I began by asking how he began his fascinating career.

I started out when I was 10 years old playing country music, which is something I don't really listen to now. I really liked the artist Garth Brooks and wanted to play some of his songs. From there, I got more and more interested in different types of music, listening to different types of music. [When I was] about 13 or 14, I really started getting into Classical music, and shortly after that I started writing music, and here I am: a professional composer and guitarist.

He has had many inspirations in his life for becoming an amazing Composer and Guitarist. If not for them he would be in a science field. 

Greg Carroll is largely responsible for me being who I am as a composer. My guitar teacher who I started out with, Kamie Rowen, she continued and continues to this day to be a big influence on me in my life now as a mentor. When I was 14 I really wanted to take private composition lessons. She set out finding a teacher that would be good for me to work with.

He has a new album called "Aspens". You can purchase it on iTunes and Amazon starting at the end of September. He is also he is going to perform in September in Greensboro for his new album. Mark was recently selected to be Composer-in-Residence for the 2014 Mid-America Guitar Ensemble Festival. He'll be writing a fifteen-minute piece for an orchestra of approximately 200 guitars which will be premiered under his baton in March of next year in Illinois.

To listen to more of Smith's works, click here. For information on his performance on September 28th, click here.