Director of Choral Studies
Email Dr. Smithey
Dr. Bret Smithey, bass-baritone and conductor from Charlotte, North Carolina, made his Washington Symphony debut in Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony. He has sung with regional opera companies throughout the United States such as the Knoxville Opera, the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, the Natchez Opera Festival, Cartersville Opera, Princeton Opera, the National Opera Company, and the Brevard Music Festival.
Dr. Smithey has sung roles in such operas as Don Giovanni, Street Scene, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Cendrillon, Lucia di Lammermoor, The Consul, Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Il Signor Bruschino, The Telephone, L’enfant et les Sortilieges, Orpheus in the Underworld, Il Barbier di Siviglia, La Bohéme, El Capitan, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Périchole, La Serva Padrona, Le Comte Ory, Carmen, Roméo et Juliet, and La Cenerentola. Notable roles include Colline, Bartolo, Raimondo, Balthazar, Magnifico, Figaro, Basilio, Benoit, Alcindoro, Commendatore, and Carl Olsen. Mr. Smithey has also appeared with many symphonies including the Tallahassee Symphony, the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Symphony, the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, the Lake Charles Symphony and the Pensacola Symphony.
Dr. Smithey received his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Westminster Choir College and his Master of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Tennessee. He acquired his doctoral degree with a concentration in opera performance from Florida State University. Of principal interest to Dr. Smithey are the works of Richard Wagner. His doctoral dissertation explored family relationships and conflicts as seen through Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, with an emphasis on Jungian analysis. Dr. Smithey has taught at McNeese State University, University of Tennessee, Pellissippi State, Murray State University and USAO in Chickasha, OK. Dr. Smithey is Director of Choral Activities at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX.
As a conductor Dr. Smithey is dedicated to performing the masterworks of the choral repertoire. At First Methodist of Lake Charles he has led performances of; Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Christ, Brahms’ A German Requiem, Rutter’s Magnificat and Mozart’s Requiem. In February of 2018 the FUMC Chancel Choir, prepared by Dr. Smithey, performed Mozart’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall as part of the prestigious Distinguished Concerts International series. In 2019 was a guest conductor with the Lake Charles Symphony for two concert programs. Dr. Smithey has appeared with ScissorTail Productions of Norman, OK conducting such works as Faure’s Requiem, Haydn’s Stabat Mater, and the Liebeslieder Walzer of Brahms. Currently, Dr. Smithey leads the choral music program at Quail Springs UMC in Oklahoma City.