James Smidt is an operatic tenor and voice teacher currently based in the DC Metropolitan area. As a voice teacher, James works with young artists and professional singers from across the country that have appeared with prestigious companies and development programs including Dallas Opera, Hamilton on Broadway, Greensboro Opera, Opera Santa Barbera, Opera San Jose, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Wolf Trap Opera, Chautauqua Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera Neo. His operatic credits include the title roles in Werther and Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Grimoaldo (Rodelina), Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Ramiro (La cenerentola), Pelléas (Impressions de Pelléas), Pluton (Orphée aux Enfers), Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia), Samuel Parris (The Crucible), Marco Palmieri (The Gondoliers), Sam Polk (Susannah), Ferrando (Cosí fan tutte), and Roméo (Roméo et Juliette). Last spring, James completed a two-year fellowship at the AJ Fletcher Opera Institute, where he received an Artist Certificate in Opera Studies. As a Fletcher Fellow, he studied voice with Marilyn Taylor, Derrick Lawrence and Robert Overman. Additionally he holds an MM in Opera Performance from the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland, where he studied with Gran Wilson and Carmen Balthrop; and a BM in Voice Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he studied with Carla LeFevre. Other influential mentors include Maestro Antony Walker, Mikael Eliasen and Jean-Paul Björlin. He currently studies with world-renowned voice trainer, Jack LiVigni.