Kealia Grace Smith, a cellist and pianist, is a junior at the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science in Ocean County, New Jersey. She began her musical journey at age six on piano, adding cello two years later.

A cello student of Thomas Kraines, she is a member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and the cellist in the Snitzer String Quartet, an Advanced Study Scholarship Chamber Ensemble at Settlement Music School. She was recently a featured soloist with the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra as the winner of their concerto competition and with Play on Philly for the world premiere of a double concerto by composer Kevin Day. 

Kealia is a 2025 recipient of the Bruce Montgomery Foundation for the Arts Springboard Grant and the Union League of Philadelphia and Founding Forward Good Citizenship Award. 

Kealia studies piano with Marcello De Vita and conducting with Rosalind Erwin; she has also studied conducting with Paul Bryan of Curtis. She has performed in master classes with soloist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Yumi Kendall and Priscilla Lee of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Northwestern University’s Hans Jørgen Jensen, and Manhattan School of Music’s Thomas Mesa. She has attended the Heifetz International Music Institute, Ascent International Cello Festival, Credo Chamber Music Festival at Oberlin Conservatory, and Music and Mindfulness Camp with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra.

Her love of music extends beyond her instruments, as she has been a part of the choir at her church for the past eleven years and has an extensive background in dance, film, and musical theater. 

She has been featured on Fox29’s Good Day Philadelphia, NBC10, CBS3, and NJ101.5 for her arrangement, recording, and video of the Ukrainian National Anthem, which helped to raise money for those impacted by the conflict. 

Kealia enjoys volunteering for Project Terrapin and as a Schoolhouse SAT tutor, is a defense attorney on her school’s Mock Trial competition team, and served as Miss Stafford 2023 with a platform of bringing classical music to her community.

Kealia Grace is a Philadelphia Music Alliance for Youth (PMAY) Artist.