BIOGRAPHY

“Schmitt found colors that taught a sense of wonder.“

(“Wiener Zeitung” - Viennese newspaper)

Christian Schmitt is one of the most sought-after organists internationally. The highlights of his extensive concert career to date have been performances with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, at the Salzburg Festival with Magdalena Kožená, in the Walt Disney Concert Hall presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and in Dallas Symphony Hall, concerts with the Staatskapelle Berlin conducted by Daniel Barenboim, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, with the Czech Philharmonic and Jakub Hrůša at the BBC Proms, with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Jukka-Pekka Saraste and with the Brno Philharmonic under Dennis Russell Davies in New York's Carnegie Hall; as well as the Japanese premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's “Embrace - Light and Shadow” with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall and the release of his recording of Hindemith’s “Kammermusik” (Chamber Music) No. 7 with conductor Christoph Eschenbach.

In 2021/22, Christian Schmitt was “Artist in Focus” of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich as well as curator of the “International Organ Festival” there, where he inaugurated the new organ under the direction of Paavo Järvi. Since 2014, he has been closely associated with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, for which he curates the organ series for the Bamberg Concert Hall as Principal Organist. He has held similar positions with the Saarbrücken State Orchestra (Artist in Focus, Music Director Sébastien Rouland) and the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Artist in Residence, Music Director Domonkos Héja). In Kaohsiung, Taiwan, he is Artistic Director of the Weiwuying Organ Festival at the largest organ in Asia.

Christian Schmitt has also played the organs of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Viennese Musikverein, the Gewandhaus Leipzig and the Maison Symphonique Montréal and has worked with conductors and soloists such as Juliane Banse, Sibylla Rubens, Matthias Goerne, Thomas Hampson, Philippe Herreweghe, Manfred Honeck, Matthias Höfs, Marek Janowski, Cornelius Meister, Thomas Søndergård and Michael Volle. Further orchestras with which he has performed include the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the radio symphony orchestras of NDR, WDR, SWR, MDR, SR and ORF.

Christian Schmitt's discography currently includes around 40 recordings. For Deutsche Grammophon, Schmitt recorded two CDs for the project 'Bach 333 - Die neue Gesamtausgabe'. Equally noteworthy is the album 'Prayer' with Magdalena Kožená, released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2014.

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Christian Schmitt has worked and continues to work as an expert consultant for organ renovations and new constructions in Berlin, Nuremberg, Zurich, Lucerne and Brno. He is a member of numerous international competition juries and is an honorary supporter of the music education project 'Rhapsody in School' and the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes).

Christian Schmitt studied with Daniel Roth (Paris), Leo Krämer (Saarbrücken) and James David Christie (Boston).

©Dorn Music, November 2024