He was chief classical music critic for The Baltimore Sun from 2000–2019.
He retired in November 2019, after a year handling a third beat as restaurant critic, when the paper began limiting performing arts reviews.
"[1] Smith has also written for The New York Times, Opera News, BBC Music Magazine and other publications.
[3] Smith was elected president of the Music Critics Association of North America in 2005 and served two terms.
[3][4] In 2002, Perigee Books published Smith's NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Classical Music.