Christian Schmitt, concert organist
Organist Christian Schmitt, born in 1976, studied at the Saarland College of Music, at the Boston Conservatory (Artist Diploma with James David Christie) and at the Frankfurt College of Music (Daniel Roth). Additionally, he attended lectures in musicology and theology at the Saarland University. He received scholarships from the Study Foundation of the German People, the German Music Life Foundation, and a full scholarship from the Boston Conservatory.
Competitions
Mr. Schmitt won Second Prize at the 10th international organ competition 'Dom zu Speyer' (1997) and First Prize and Prize of the Public at the 12th International Bach competition in Wiesbaden (1999). At the 4th international organ competition in Tokyo (2000) he received the Special Prize for New Music and in 2001 he was the winner of the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb’s prize (German Music Competition) in Berlin. In 2003 he became the first organist to be hohored with the Pro Europa Foundation’s soloist prize in Lucerne under the patronage of the Prince of Denmark. He performed within the framework of federal president Johannes Rau’s state visits to Australia and New Zealand.
Concerts
Mr. Schmitt gives concerts regularly in the great concert halls and churches of Europe, Asia and North America, including the KKL Lucerne, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Philharmonies in Cologne and in Essen, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus. He plays with the Prague and Stuttgart chamber orchestras and plays concerts with important symphony orchestras and conductors such as NDR (Hamburg), MDR (Leipzig), SR (Saarbrücken) and RSB (Berlin). He performs with many conductors, including Marin Alsop, Andrey Boreyko, Claus Peter Flor, Michael Gielen, Reinhard Goebel, Roy Goodman, Günther Herbig, Marek Janowski, Nicol Matt, Sir Roger Norrington, Christoph Poppen and Johannes Wildner.
Since 2006 he has been invited to play continuo organ and harpsichord at the Stuttgart Radio Symphony orchestra of the SWR, conducted by Sir Roger Norrington, with whom he recorded the early Mozart symphonies, the orchestral suites of J.S. Bach, and several other CDs.
Teaching activities
Mr. Schmitt has a teaching position at the Saar College of Music and is teaching master classes at music colleges in Oslo, Seoul, Taschkent, Ljubljana, Boston and in 2008 – for the second time – in Bogota for 4 weeks. The latter will be expanded to an Academy in 2009 with Pascal Marsault (Toulon), Wolfgang Seifen (Berlin) and Christian Schmitt.
Discography
His discography includes over 20 CDs, as well as recordings with all the regional radio stations of the national broadcast ARD. He recently recorded several works for organ and orchestra by Charles-Marie Widor with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, he will start recording the complete solo organ symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor at the historic Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Abbatiale St. Ouen (Rouen, France) in cooperation with the Bavarian Radio and CPO.