ABOUT KURT SCHMID

  • Kurt Schmid

    Kurt Schmid was born 1942 in Vienna in a family of musicians. 1963 he graduated from the University of Music in Vienna with distinction where he studied clarinet with Prof. Rudolf Jettel. His teachers of conducting were Hans Swarovsky, Walter Koberer, Karl Osterreicher, Erwin Acel and Seiji Ozawa.

    After the graduation he got a job of a solo clarinettist at the "Tonkunstler" Orchestra of Lower Austria where he worked until 2003.

    At the same time he played with several musical groups like "Viennese Concert Schrammel Quartet" and chamber ensemble "Kollegium Viennese" and started to compose.

    1970 Kurt Schmid began a regular teaching activity, 1974 he became a teacher at the Vienna Music Seminar, 1980 – at the University of Music in Vienna. He regularly holds master-classes in Austria, Japan, Korea and Ukraine.

    1993 maestro was appointed an artistic director and a conductor of the "Vienna Clarinet Orchestra" with which he first performed his compositions. 1995 he became an artistic Vice-President of the Vienna Music Seminar and 1996 – the Music Director of the "Euro Music Festival" in Korea.

    1997 Kurt Schmid received the professional title "professor".

    1998 he founded his "Strauss-Gala-Orchestra Vienna" with which he regularly plays on tour in Japan and giving concerts in Austria and Spain.

    Since 1999 Kurt Schmid is honorary director and conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the State Philharmony Oradea (Rumania), conductor and organizer of concerts in Japan, Korea, Hungary and Rumania.

    2001 maestro started his concert activity in Ukraine – he conducted concerts in Lvov, Uzhhorod, Chernivtsi, Kiev, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lugansk, Alchevsk, Nikolaev, Kherson, Odessa, Simferopol, Yalta and other cities.

    2002 he became a honorary conductor of Philharmonic Society in Chernivtsi, an art director and a pricipal conductor of the Symphonic Orchestra of the Philharmony Lugansk. He also received a silver medal of honour from the capital city of Vienna.

    Notable achievements of Kurt Schmid were numerous concert tours of the Symphonic Orchestra of the Philharmony Lugansk in Austria. The brightest of them were performances of the orchestra in the Big Hall of the Viennese Konzerthaus, where Ukrainian music and masterpieces of the Viennese music were played, as well as the performance in October 2005 in the Golden Hall of the Viennese Musikverein, where orchestra together with the choir of the the Lugansk National Pedagogical University performed the 9th Symphony of Beethoven. One of the summits of the collaboration of Kurt Schmid with orchestra and choir was a concert tour through Austria with Requiem of Mozart and Ukrainian music.

    During his work in Lugansk a lot of pieces were played for Lugansk audience for the first time: among them is the 9th Symphony of Beethoven, Carmina Burana of Carl Orff, Stabat Mater of Giovanni Pergolesi and others.

    Since December 2003 he teaches at the Lugansk National Pedagogical University. 2004 Kurt Schmid was bestowed the title „Dr. honoris causa” of this university.

    November 2005 Kurt Schmid got the honorary prize of the international popularity fond "Gold fortune" (Ukraine). June 2006 he was awarded a medal of the 3rd degree "For the important contribution to the cultural development of the Lugansk region".

    2007 his work in Ukraine was marked with the Order of Merit of the President of Ukraine of the 3rd degree. The same year he got the Honorary Mark "For the development of the Lugansk region" and Honorary Mark "For services to the Lugansk city".

    2010 Kurt Schmid was awarded the Cross of Honour for Science and Art (First Class) – the highest decoration for scientific or artistic achievements in Austria.

    Kurt Schmid is a composer of more than 500 compositions. The acme of his composer activity was a performance of his ballet “The Fire Flower” at the Museumsquartier in Vienna (August 2007) and a benefit concert of his works in the Redoutensaal of Viennese Hofburg (October 2008). In August 2010 the new double-CD of Kurt Schmid and Elisabeth Kotauczek «Emotion – Inspiration» was presented in the Minoritenchurch in Vienna.

    On the 30th of October 2011 there will be the debut performance of the Oratorio of Kurt Schmid „Ode to the Life“, оp. 450 in the Big Hall of the Wiener Konzerthaus.