Why I Chose Backun
"Choosing an instrument is about entering into a relationship: discovering its potential and what it might unlock in your own musicianship. I thought about moving to Backun for almost ten years, but joked that I might forget how to play the clarinet — the instruments require so little working around. At this stage of my career, I’ve decided it’s time to make life easy: to focus less on the instrument itself, and more on sound, colour and musical intention."
About
Described as ‘Incandescent... a masterly display of skill and insight... as an apologist for contemporary music-making, you would search hard to find this clarinettist's equal’ (The Age), Ashley William Smith performs as a clarinet soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across Australia, the USA and Asia.
A laureate of major Australian awards, he has received the Music Council of Australia Freedman Fellowship, an ABC Symphony International Young Performer Award, a Churchill Fellowship, and the APRA Performance of the Year. He is recognised by leading instrument makers as a Backun and D’Addario Artist.
Committed to the creation and performance of new music, more than 30 major works have been written for him, and in 2026 he will premiere a new clarinet concerto by James Ledger with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, Ashley has appeared worldwide with ensembles including the Calder Quartet, Dover Quartet, the Australian String Quartet and the Southern Cross Soloists, and with organisations including Bang on a Can, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre, Chamber Music Northwest, the Kennedy Centre, and the Beijing Modern Music Festival.
Ashley is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia, where he is Chair of Woodwind and Deputy Head of School. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Western Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian National Academy of Music, he received prizes as the most outstanding performance graduate of each institution. In 2020, he completed a doctorate in music analysis.
Alongside performance, he works in artistic leadership as an artistic director and is a sought-after public speaker and music educator. He contributes to the sector through mentorship and board leadership, supporting artistic development, programming, and audience engagement.
