ALL NEW!! Robert W. Smith Music Festival – Multiple Destinations for 2024, 2025+
SAN ANTONIO, MEMPHIS, WASHINGTON D.C., & ORLANDO!!

2023 – Orlando, FL
Featuring Brian Balmages, Soon Hee Newbold, and Robert W. Smith!
(scroll down for complete info and registration)

2024-25 NEW Destinations!!
San Antonio, Memphis, Washington D.C., & Orlando!
All National Music’s
Exclusive Composer Festival

Robert W. Smith Music Festival
NEW! March 23-26, 2023 – Expanded Event
THREE World Renowned Composers!
Have your Band or Orchestra considered to be a part of the inaugural Robert W. Smith Music Festival held in Orlando, FL! Perform in Orlando and INCLUDES two days at Universal Orlando Resort including Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure!

All National Music’s Robert W. Smith MUSIC Festival!
Featuring THREE World Renowned Composers for Band and Orchestra!
March 23-26, 2023
Key Festival Components
- Exclusive, National Adjudicated concert festival
- Integrated World Renowned Festival Composers (perform one of the composers work at the festival)
- Clinic on stage after performance
- $1000 of NEW Music Compositions awarded to every ensemble (for groups registered to tour starting November 1, 2022)! We are your music Education partner!
- One Group Excursion Activity (example: Universal Orlando Resort, Disney, Six Flags, Sea World, Graceland, Sun Studios, Civil Rights Museum, Historical Tours/Museums…)
- Quality Resort/Hotel Accommodations
- 2 Breakfasts at the Resort
- 1 Awards Special Event
- Commemorative gifts for the directors and students
- Performance recording
- Top group wins a commissioned work by the composer to be written/published for your band!
Optional Add-ons!
+ Master classes, workshops and rehearsals
+ Your piece conducted by the composer at performance! (requires master class)
About Robert W. Smith
Featured Composer
Robert W. Smith (b. 1958) is one of the most popular and prolific composers in America today. He has over 600 publications in print with the majority composed and arranged through his long association with Warner Bros. Publications and the Belwin catalog… (click drop arrow to read more…)
Mr. Smith’s credits include many compositions and productions in all areas of the music field. His original works for winds and percussion have been programmed by countless military, university, high school, and middle school bands throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, South America and Asia. His Symphony #1 (The Divine Comedy), Symphony #2 (The Odyssey), Symphony #3 (Don Quixote), Inchon and Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual have received worldwide critical acclaim. His educational compositions such as The Tempest, Encanto, and The Great Locomotive Chase have become standards for developing bands throughout the world.
Mr. Smith’s music has received extensive airplay on major network television as well as inclusion in multiple motion pictures. From professional ensembles such as the United States Navy Band, United States Air Force Band, Boston Pops and the Atlanta Symphony to school bands and orchestras throughout the world, his music speaks to audiences in any concert setting. As a conductor, clinician and keynote speaker, Mr. Smith has performed throughout North America, Asia, South America, Europe and Australia. His music has been recorded by various ensembles and is available on CD and download through iTunes, Amazon, and other recorded music outlets.
Mr. Smith is the President/CEO of RWS Music Company, exclusively distributed through C. L. Barnhouse. In addition, he is currently teaching in the Music Industry program at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. His teaching responsibilities are focused in music composition, production, publishing and business.
About Soon Hee Newbold
Featured Composer
Newbold was born in South Korea and was adopted as an infant and grew up in Frederick, Maryland, with two sisters. She began playing piano at age five and violin at age seven winning prestigious competitions and performing as a concert artist at an early age. As a soloist and in professional orchestras throughout the world, Newbold appeared in venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center…(click drop arrow to read more…)
… Wolf Trap, Disney World, Aspen Music Festival and School, and Tanglewood and in many countries throughout the world. Newbold attended Frederick High School where her interests included science, languages, and drama. She studied German, French, and Russian and completed an internship in AIDS and Cancer research at the National Institutes of Health in Fort Detrick, Maryland, under Dr. David Derse. Newbold received her Bachelor of Music degree from James Madison University where she concentrated on film scoring, orchestration, and audio production. During college, she also performed in professional symphonies in Virginia, Maryland, and New York and was the winner twice of the JMU School of Music Concerto Competition performing Violin Concerto (Khachaturian) her Freshman year and Tzigane by Ravel as a Senior.
Upon graduation, Newbold worked in entertainment for Walt Disney World and performed in various symphonies in Florida. She also produced albums and wrote for recording projects and ensembles. As an actress, Newbold expanded her experiences to film and television. She got her first break in the film, The Waterboy, starring Adam Sandler, and first major role in the family comedy, Camp Tanglefoot with Gregg Russell, Drew Seeley, and Michael Andrew. Published through the FJH Music Company, Newbold’s compositions can be heard around the world in film, orchestras, and other performing groups. She frequently travels around the world as a guest composer and conductor and her works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Midwest Clinic.
Newbold currently lives in Southern California with her husband. She works in film, television, and commercial projects as a producer, actress, composer, and musician. Newbold is also a proficient martial artist and trained in various weapons. She has a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, 2nd degree black belt in Hapkido, and a black belt in Kigumdo (Korean swords) similar to Kendo. Her mother was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, a terminal genetic neurological illness for which there is very little treatment and no cure. Newbold wrote the song Endless Dreams, and dedicated it to those affected by Huntington’s to spread awareness and hope.
About Brian Balmages
Featured Composer
Brian Balmages (b. 1975) is an award-winning composer and conductor. His music has been performed throughout the world with commissions ranging from elementary schools to professional orchestras. World premieres include prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Meyerhoff Symphony Hall… (click drop arrow to read more…)
His music was also performed as part of the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service, which was attended by both President Obama and Vice President Biden. He is a recipient of the A. Austin Harding Award from the American School Band Directors Association, won the 2020 NBA William D. Revelli Composition Contest with his work Love and Light, and was awarded the inaugural James Madison University Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Visual and Performing Arts. In the same year, he was commissioned by his other alma mater, the University of Miami, to compose music for the inauguration of the institution’s 6th president, Dr. Julio Frenk.
As a conductor, Mr. Balmages enjoys regular engagements with all-state and region bands and orchestras, as well as university and professional ensembles throughout the world. Notable guest conducting appearances have included the Midwest Clinic, Western International Band Clinic, College Band Directors Conference, American School Band Directors Association National Conference, numerous state ASTA conferences and others. Additional conducting appearances have included the Kennedy Center and Meyerhoff Symphony Hall as well as band and orchestra engagements in Australia, Canada and Italy. Currently, he is Director of Instrumental Publications for The FJH Music Company and Assistant Director of Bands and Orchestras at Towson University.
A quick look from our 2022 Festival!
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