Composer and guitarist Mark Charles Smith was born in North Carolina in 1983.

His compositions have been performed in diverse venues across the United States, including the Eastern Music Festival, Lincoln Center, and Guitar Foundation of America Festival.

Most recently, Mark's composition "We Are All In This Together" for solo guitarist with guitar ensemble was performed by Grammy award-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux. The piece was also toured with this summer in Iceland, and at Zion National Park in Utah.

Mark has taught at NGFS since 2013.