Wolfgang Schmidt

Cellist Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt has studied with David Geringas, Aldo Parisot and Mstislav Rostropovitch. He was awarded the “Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris” at the International Rostropovitch Competition in Paris (also winning the prize for contemporary music) and was a prize winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the International Leonard Rose Cello Competition in the USA.

Wolfgang performs worldwide with such prestigious orchestras as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France Paris, Staatskapelle Weimar, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of such such esteemed conductors as Gerd Albrecht, Hermann Baümer, Jiri Belohlavek, Andrey Boreyko, Charles Dutoit, Gabriel Feltz, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Marek Janowski, Nicholas Milton, Heinz Rögner, Donald Runnicles, Yutaka Sado, Michael Sanderling, Vassili Sinaiski, Heinz Wallberg, and Hugh Wolff.

He has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls including the Berlin Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonie, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Theatre du Champs Elysee, Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and at the Ravinia and Piatigorsky Festivals.

Mr. Schmidt is also much acclaimed as a conductor, and has led as conductor, or as director/soloist, the Nordwestdeutschen Philharmonie Herford, Christchurch Symphony New Zealand, Kammerorchester of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Württembergischen Philharmonie Reutlingen, Sinfonieorchester Lviv Ukraine, Staatskapelle Sankt Petersburg, and Südwestdeutschen Kammerorchester. He is the Music Director and Conductor of Kammerphilharmonie Metamorphosen Berlin, a chamber ensemble that draws its musicians from the top instrumentalists across Europe who performs regularly in the Konzerthaus, Berlin and on tour across Europe. Their first album, Inspiration, presenting the string music of Herbert, Suk and Dvořák, was released in 2015 followed by their second album, Serenade, presenting the string music of Tchaikovsky.

As a soloist Wolfgang has recorded many concerto and recital albums for Sony including those with Gabriel Feltz and the NDR Radiophilharmonic, and for Solo Musica as Cello Duello with cellist Jens Peter Maintz, winning several Diapason d’Or, Meómano d’Oro and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik awards.

He also devotes himself to chamber music and performs with such renowned artists as Lang Lang, Christoph Eschenbach, Emanuel Ax, Gil Shaham, Nicolaj Znaider, Leonidas Kavakos, Kyoko Takezawa, Miriam Fried, Edgar Meyer and David Shifrin. He has performed solo and chamber recitals for the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival in Los Angeles and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville and tours as Cello Duello across Europe and the USA.

Mr. Schmidt teaches at the Academy of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar, the University of the Arts in Berlin, and at the Kronberg Academy. He was a member of the Faculty of the 2019 Aspen Festival and Music School.

He plays on an instrument by Matteo Goffriller, which previously belonged to Hugo Becker.