Praised for his “brilliant” (The New York Times) and “confident and controlled” (The Boston Globe) solo performances, New York-based oboist James Austin Smith is an active performer of and advocate for chamber and new music.  James is an artist of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and regular guest of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) and Talea Ensemble. James is a recent alumnus of "The Academy", a collaboration of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, the Weill Music Institute and the New York City Department of Education.

James has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Speculum Musicae, as soloist with the Manhattan Sinfonietta and as soloist and chamber musician at Bargemusic.  His festival appearances include Marlboro, Lucerne, Chamber Music Northwest, Schleswig-Holstein, OK Mozart, Schwetzingen and Spoleto USA; his performances have been broadcast across the United States and Germany.

Understanding performance as a launching point for the advocacy of chamber and new music, James engages audiences through pre-performance talks, panel discussions, program notes and podcasts. A lover of new music, James, alongside his performances in the US and abroad with the International Contemporary Ensemble, has premiered dozens of works for oboe and has worked extensively with Pierre Boulez and John Adams, and in 2008 performed Elliott Carter's Oboe Quartet and Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harpsichord for the composer.

James received his Master of Music degree in 2008 from the Yale School of Music and graduated in 2005 with Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) and Bachelor of Music degrees from Northwestern University.  He spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Leipzig, Germany at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy." While studying in Leipzig, James co-directed a concert of German and American musicians and performed as a guest recitalist at the residence of the American General Consul to Leipzig. James’s principal teachers are Stephen Taylor, Christian Wetzel, Humbert Lucarelli, Hansjörg Schellenberger and Ray Still.The son of musician parents and eldest of four boys, James was born in New York and raised in Connecticut.