College Choir Conductor

Dr. Adrian Smith was called to serve on the music faculty of Martin Luther College in 2013. Since 2017, he has conducted the MLC College Choir, the college’s premier touring choir, and the Männerchor. He teaches choral conducting, music fundamentals, and music history.

Smith earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the University of Oklahoma, a Master of Church Music degree from Concordia University Wisconsin, and a Bachelor of Science in Education with a music emphasis from Martin Luther College. He also completed graduate study in choral conducting at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.

For more than 25 years, Smith has served as a called worker in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, holding a variety of positions in education and church music, including classroom teacher, school and church music director, and minister of music.

As a conductor and choral musician, Smith has been involved in numerous large-scale choral-orchestral performances. At Martin Luther College, he conducted a performance of Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah. He has also served as a section leader for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Mankato Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Norman Philharmonic in Norman, Oklahoma; Handel’s Messiah with the Mankato Symphony Orchestra; and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the University of Oklahoma School of Music.

Smith is also active as a clinician, presenter, and conductor, having served at choral, organ, and handbell workshops; regional and national handbell festivals; and elementary and secondary choral festivals. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association for Music Education.