Benjamin Schmid

Violin

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One of the most versatile of today’s violinists, Benjamin Schmid’s particular strength lies in his exceptionally wide repertoire and very personal style.

Artistic Director: Salzburger Kulturvereinigung

A truly multifaceted and most versatile of today’s violinists, Viennese-born violinist Benjamin Schmid is renowned for his extraordinarily broad artistic range. In addition to over 75 concertos in his repertoire, he champions works by composers such as Hartmann, Gulda, Korngold, Muthspiel, Szymanowski, Wolf-Ferrari, Lutosławski and Reger. Schmid also has a successful career in jazz and regularly presents his Hommage à Grappelli programme at jazz venues and classical concert halls alike.

Artistic Director of the Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra in Sweden since the 2020/21 season, he continues this successful artistic partnership in diverse play/direct projects. Further highlights of the 2022/23 season include appearances with Wiener Symphoniker at the Bregenzer Festspiele, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música with Christian Zacharias as well as a return to the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg with Constantinos Carydis, amongst others.

Benjamin Schmid has a close relationship with the Wiener Philharmoniker and their notable collaborations include the opening concert of the Salzburger Festspiele as well as performances at Vienna Musikverein and, in 2011, at Schloss Schönbrunn with the Paganini-Kreisler Concerto under the baton of Valery Gergiev, which was broadcast in over 60 countries and released on CD and DVD by Deutsche Grammophon.

He has a discography of over 50 albums, many of which have won critical acclaim and awards including the ECHO Klassik, Gramophone Editor’s Choice and Strad Selection. His recording of Ligeti’s Violin Concerto was named Record of the Month by Gramophone magazine, and his album of Wolf-Ferrari’s Violin Concerto was nominated for the Vierteljahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

Benjamin Schmid won the Carl Flesch International Competition in 1992, where he also received the Mozart, Beethoven and Audience prizes. He holds a professorship at the Mozarteum Salzburg and teaches masterclasses at Hochschule der Künste Bern. He was a member of the jury at the 2017 ARD International Music Competition for violin, and Chairman of the Jury at the 2019 International Leopold Mozart Violin Competition.

Regular collaborations include with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Christoph von Dohnányi, Riccardo Chailly, Yuri Temirkanov, John Storgårds and Hannu Lintu, and with orchestras including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra,Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Concerto Köln. US engagaments have included the Baltimore and Houston Symphony orchestras, Washington National Symphony Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic and Naples Philharmonic Jazz and Curtis Institute orchestras. In Asia, he appears with the likes of New Japan Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony and at the Hong Kong Festival.

Benjamin Schmid plays the “ex-Viotti” Stradivarius of 1718, on generous loan by the Österreichische Nationalbank.

HarrisonParrott represents Benjamin Schmid for worldwide general management.

“Schmid plays with an intensity and sweetness that illuminates both the darker textures and the lyrical beauty of Bartók’s two violin concertos”

(BBC Music Magazine, September 2018)

“Benjamin Schmid is a wonderfully eloquent advocate for the Concerto, evoking the intense, romantic aura of the initial bond between composer and violinist.”

(Gramophone, March 2013)

“It was a memorable performance […] Schmid was terrifically agile and clean, and his sound was gorgeous and multi-hued, making the most of the music’s play of timbres between soloist and orchestra.”

(The Oregonian, March 2013)

“Schmid’s is the kind of playing that can’t fail to win listeners over. While remaining true to the high-Romantic spirit of the work, he nevertheless gave the impression of evaluating each phrase anew.”

(The Strad, May 2005)

“Schmid is one of the most valuable of today’s golden-age-violinists.“

(The New York Sun, August 2004)

“Schmid was wonderful here, supremely lyrical, he gradually intensified both tone and vibrato so that we got a sense of life burgeoning before it is cut short.”

(The Guardian, October 2003)

“He is right up there with the finest of today’s young violinists, demonstrating a passionate temperament, backed by glorious tonal colouring and the sort of technical acuity that makes passages of extreme virtuosity sound music rather than mere display.”

(The Daily Telegraph, October 2001)