Robert Smith is a Yorkshire-born baroque cellist and viola da gambist. He studied baroque cello in Amsterdam with Wouter Möller, Jaap ter Linden and Viola da Hoog. He also studied Viola da Gamba with Mieneke van der Velden (Amsterdam) and Paolo Pandolfo (Basel). He was principal cellist for the European Union Baroque Orchestra in 2005/6 under the direction of, amongst others, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Rachel Podger and Christophe Coin. Robert plays with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, De Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht, and the ensembles Les Elements and Fantasticus. His spare time is used learning Japanese.

Robert has performed several times in the prestigious Amsterdam Concertgebouw and has been broadcast in live performances on Dutch Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3. As part of Ensemble Diamanté he won second prize in the renowned Bruges Musica Antiqua Concours and the Audience Prize in the International Van Wassenaer Concours (Amsterdam).  In 2010 he won the second prize in the International Baroque Soloist Competition in Brunnenthal, Austria.