While Italian opera (and particularly where sung in English) was his natural metier, he also performed many concerts and song recitals. Together with his son Robin Donald, they presented in 1974 a series of "Smith & Son" concerts throughout Australia singing in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Smith's last performance for the Australian Opera was in Verdi's "I masnadieri" in 1980 with Joan Sutherland. While Smith and Sutherland did perform together in a number of concerts at the Sydney Opera House, "I masnadieri" was the only occasion when these two Australian icons performed a complete staged opera together. His health began to fail and in 1981 he retired from the professional operatic stage. He later became a singing teacher in Brisbane at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Smith made many individual recordings both in England with the Sadler's Wells Opera Company and in Australia with EMI records and other recording companies. He also appears in compilation videos and CD's such as "Celebration – 40 Years of Opera", and "Australian Singers of Renown in Opera, Operetta & Song", compiled by John Cargher. Smith died in the Pleasantville Nursing Home in Brisbane on 1 December 1998. His eldest grandson, Jason Cundy, was an English Premier League player for Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Ipswich, and played for England U21. In 1973 Donald Smith was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He was the first resident member of the Australian Opera to be awarded this honour.