Alex Smith ’12 (MM, jazz studies)

Alex Smith ’12 (MM, jazz studies) played for an audience of 60,000 at Levi’s Stadium, and millions of television viewers, when he accompanied Lady Gaga during her outstanding rendition of the National Anthem to open Superbowl 50 in 2016.

Smith is the pianist, organist, and arranger for the Brian Newman Quintet, a group who performed on Lady Gaga’s album of jazz standards with Tony Bennett, Cheek to Cheek, and later accompanied the duo on tour in North America and Europe.

Th quintet first performed with Lady Gaga in 2011 for ABC’s A Very Gaga Thanksgiving holiday special. Newman knew Gaga prior to her rise as a pop star in 2009, and Smith and Newman played together as undergraduates in Cincinnati.

Smith resides in Peekskill, NY and teaches music privately and at Yorktown’s Soundview Prep School.