Laudator - Benjamin Schmid
In June 2007 at Vienna Musikverein Benjamin Schmid performed the Korngold violin concerto in three concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic and Seiji Ozawa. This invitation by one of the world s finest orchestras followed Benjamin Schmid shighly successful debut with Vienna Philharmonic at the 2004 Salzburg Festival, a festival where he has been a frequent guest for over twenty years. Schmid s regular appearances at Salzburg Festival began in 1986 with his debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Sir Yehudi Menuhin, and has continued with a large number of orchestral concerts, recitals, chamber music and jazz recitals most recently in recital with Hélène Grimaud and Clemens Hagen.
Born in Vienna in 1968, Benjamin Schmid studied in Salzburg, Vienna and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He won a number of international awards, amongst the Carl Flesch Competition where he won the Mozart Prize, the Beethoven Prize and the Audience Prize! Benjamin Schmid s repertoire is extremely broad.
He regularly performs all the major works for violin and orchestra, with works by Austrian composers Berg, Goldmark, Korngold, Kreisler, Mozart, Muthspiel, Schönberg, Webern at the very core. Each year Schmid allocates a proportion of his time to playing chamber music. With pianist Ariane Haering he concentrates on the works by Mozart, which they also recorded together.
Schmid s passion for jazz, which began at very early age, is also reflected throughout his schedule. Engagements with leading orchestras include the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Housto and Baltimore Symphonies and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, Vienna Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, St Petersburg Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic and The Philharmonia.
In the 2008/09 season Benjamin Schmid performs with the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra and David Zinman, Mozarteum Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as well as Zürich and Bern Chamber Orchestras, Tampere Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony, Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa and as artist in residence to the Rheinische Philharmonie State Orchestra.
In Asia he works with the Malaysian Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan and performs with his jazz trio on tour in Japan. Highlights will be his solo recitals in the 2008 Salzburg Bach Festival, a chamber music tour of Europe with clarinettist Sabine Meyer and performances of the Berg concerto with the Nederlands Radio Philharmonisch Orkest under Hans Graf at Amsterdam s Concertgebouw.
In addition, Benjamin Schmid works on a number of chamber music recital projects, with amongst others clarinettist Sabine Meyer and cellist Clemens Hagen. His outstandingly successful jazz project Hommage à Grappelli has been performed at prestigious jazz clubs as well as many classical concert halls.
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