Benjamin Schmid

 

 

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Benjamin Schmid, Violin

 

Benjamin Schmid was born in Vienna and grew up in Salzburg. In 1992 he won the Carl Flesch Competition in London, where he was also awarded the Mozart-, the Beethoven- and the Audience Prize. Since then he has performed on the world’s major stages with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam under conductors such as Christoph von Dohnanyi, David Zinman, Seiji Ozawa or Ingo Metzmacher.

Probably one of the most versatile of today’s violinists Benjamin Schmid combines his qualities as a soloist, the extraordinary broad range of his repertoire – in addition to the usual works he also plays the violin concertos by Hartmann, Gulda, Korngold, Muthspiel, Szymanowski, Lutoslawski and Schönberg – with his remarkable skill in jazz improvisation.

Benjamin Schmid has recorded about 40 CDs and they have received various awards such as the German Record Prize, the Echo Klassik Prize, the Gramophone Editor’s Choice and the Strad Selection. He plays on a Stradivari dating from 1731 in about 80 worldwide concerts a year, is professor of violin at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and gives masterclasses in Berne, Switzerland. ( www.hkb.bfh.ch ). In the summer of 2006 Benjamin Schmid was awarded the International Prize for Art and Culture of the City of Salzburg.

In June 2011 Benjamin Schmid will be soloing again with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, this time performing the violinconcerto by Paganini/Kreisler. This “SummerNightConcert” will be broadcasted on TV worldwide and released on DVD on Deutsche Grammophon.

Several films have been made about Benjamin Schmid which document his exceptional status as a violinist; they have been screened on television throughout the world. Benjamin Schmid lives in Salzburg, Austria, with his wife, the pianist Ariane Haering and their three children.