Orion Quartet

Performer Details

Performer Bio Synopsis

Formed in the Fall of 2022, Orion Quartet has earned much praise from audiences across Texas. They have performed numerous recitals in their local community in addition to presenting a Showcase recital at the 2024 Texas Music Educators Convention. Orion Quartet earned 2nd Place in the 16th and 17th Annual Houston Underground Quartet Competition and received 1st Place in the Junior High category of the 15th Annual Houston Underground Saxophone Competition. Each member of Orion Quartet is a student of Mark Smith and attends Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas. In addition to their quartet achievements, all members are part of the Hebron Marching Band, which has claimed 1st place in numerous competitions, including the Texas State Marching Band Contest. Individually, members of the quartet have received 1st and 3rd in the North American Saxophone Alliance Solo Competition and have placed in the Texas All-State Band.

Orion Quartet

Conductor's Bio

Saxophonist, Educator, and Composer/Arranger Mark Smith has served his local community through music since first picking up the saxophone 23 years ago. His passion for music and teaching young students has left a lasting impact on the Texas band and chamber music community. His student quartets, Quantum Quartet and Plexus Quartet, have been featured on the nationally-syndicated program "From the Top," and have received several Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award Scholarships. Mark works as an applied teacher, chamber music coach, and masterclass instructor at Hebron High School and its feeder middle schools, Killian MS, Arbor Creek MS, and Creek Valley MS. Mark’s students have consistently earned placements in the annual Texas Music Educator Association’s All-State Band, including several 1st chair placements. His students have also found success as soloists taking top placements in competitions, including the North American Saxophone Alliance Solo Competition, the Houston Underground Solo Contest, Enkor International Competition, and the Annual All-State Competition and Masterclass at the University at Texas. Several of his students were also selected for the North American Saxophone Alliance High School Ensemble. In addition to his responsibilities as a lesson teacher, Mark runs an intense chamber music program within the Hebron High School cluster directing both middle school and high school saxophone quartets. His students have been featured by New York’s Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center with a performance at Alice Tully Hall as part of their Young Musicians Concert series. Mark’s student quartets have achieved high honors in competition taking top prizes at the Fischoff Competition, Coltman Competition, Houston Underground Saxophone Quartet Competition, Enkor International Music Competition, The American Prize, and GCC Series Competitions. Other chamber music accomplishments include working alongside Rylon Guidry to take the Arbor Creek Saxophone ensemble to perform at the 73rd Midwest Clinic and Conference and his students taking top prize in the International Woodwind Duo Symposium Competition. As a soloist, Mark was selected as winner of the University of Texas at Arlington’s Concerto Competition in 2009 and has been invited as a featured soloist for the Hebron Wind Symphony. Mark has been a freelance jazz musician in the DFW area for the past 15 years and has had the great opportunity to perform with many great jazz artists, including Adonis Rose and the Fort Worth Jazz Orchestra, Randy Brecker, Tim Warfield, Shelly Carroll, Quamon Fowler, Fred Hammond and others. Mark can be heard on recordings from the North Texas Wind Symphony (Ciphers, Encryptions, Revelations, Genesis, and Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, Vol. 8) and Cornerstone Baptist Church (The Voices of Cornerstone). Mark holds a BM in Jazz (2009) from the University of Texas at Arlington where he studied under Tim Ishii, and participated in the UTA Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Combos, and Wind Symphony. Mark traveled to Mexico City with the UTA Jazz Orchestra where he served as a guest artist and educational instructor. Mark received a MM in Saxophone Performance (2011) from the University of North Texas where he studied under Dr. Eric Nestler, participated in the North Texas Wind Symphony for several years, and various chamber music ensembles.