Juliet White-Smith is an accomplished violist, an engaging and dynamic teacher, and an expert string pedagogue. With a career spanning four decades, she has performed in concert halls as a solo, chamber and orchestral musician throughout the Americas and in Europe, Asia and Africa. She was a featured soloist with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of guest conductor Terje Mikkelsen (Norway). She has been featured as a recitalist and presenter for conferences and congresses of the American Viola Society and International Viola Society at venues in Montreal, South Africa, Thailand and Brazil. White-Smith was a member of the Texas Chamber Orchestra under Sergiu Luca, the Houston Grand Opera under John DeMain, a fellow with the Rochester Philharmonic, and has performed in the viola sections of the Grand Rapids (Michigan) and Columbus (Ohio) Symphony Orchestras.

White-Smith’s views on pedagogy, talent, and effective practice have been featured in articles in The Strad, Strings Magazine, Journal of the American Viola Society, and American String Teacher. She has presented master classes throughout the United States and abroad at major music schools including the Eastman School of Music, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and Mahidol College of Music in Thailand. She has been an invited presenter and master class clinician for the American String Teachers Association, the nonprofit Save the Music Foundation, the 75th anniversary Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, and at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa for the International Viola Society Congress in 2009. She has been on the artist-faculty at music festivals in the United States and abroad including most recently the Brevard Music Festival from 2018–2023. In 2025, she joined the artist-faculty at the Cremona International Music Academy and Festival in Italy. She is active as an adjudicator for prominent career-advancing competitions including the William Primrose International Viola Competition and the Yellow Spring Chamber Music Competition. Her students have won positions in summer music festivals such as National Repertory Orchestra, in training orchestras including the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and have successful careers as professional orchestra musicians and in academia.

An advocate for all things viola, White-Smith served as president of the American Viola Society from 2008–2011 following a long tenure as board member-at-large. She was the founding president of the Rocky Mountain Viola Society based in Colorado. She has appeared in interviews in the Boston Globe and on WBUR Boston. Her 2009 album Fashionably Late: Juliet White-Smith Debuts!  features the premiere recording of Pulitzer Prize winner George Walker’s Viola Sonata (1989) and is available on the Centaur Records label. Live performances and instructional videos can be found on her YouTube channel.

A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, White-Smith earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music and is a graduate of the University of Houston (MM) and Louisiana State University (BM, violin). She began her full-time career in academia at age 25 as an instructor and then King-Chavez-Parks Visiting Professor at Western Michigan University. She joined the music faculty at The Ohio State University as a full professor in 2012 following a 21-year career at the University of Northern Colorado.

White-Smith’s passion for efficient movement led to her work as a Licensed Body Mapping Educator (www.bodymap.org) and certification as a yoga instructor (RYT 200 hours). She presents Body Mapping workshops, courses and lessons to professionals and students alike. In her free time she enjoys cycling, yoga, car camping, creative writing, and reading a good mystery novel.

Article — "Ask a Teacher: Juliet White-Smith." The Strad (April 2010). 69.