The German pianist, David Theodor Schmidt, initially studied with Sontraud Speidel in Karlsruhe and later with Kevin Kenner at the Royal College of Music in London. He also attended master-classes of personalities like Lev Naumov, Christopher Elton and Klaus Hellwig. Notable among the prizes he has won at various piano competitions is the first prize at the Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Köthen. He has additionally held a DAAD scholarship, the Gerd Bucerius Scholarship of the ZEIT-Stiftung in the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the Douglas Downie Study Award of the RCM and the scholarship and audience award of the international Scholarship Competition of the Chopin Society in Hanover.
The European musical centres in which David Theodor Schmidt has performed include Berlin, Leipzig, London and Moscow, while the orchestras with which he has appeared as a soloist include the Nürnberger Symphoniker, Karlsruhe Chamber Orchestra and Vladimir Symphony Orchestra in Russia. His concerts have been enthusiastically acclaimed by the press, Molwa in Russia, for example, emphasizing "his high culture as a pianist, his maturity, his brilliant technique and variety of pianistic expression".
In addition to recording for radio and television in Germany and abroad, in 2005 David Theodor Schmidt made his first CD; co-produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk for the label Famiro, it has been greatly acclaimed by the press. MusicWeb International, for example, wrote: "Schmidt's performance is a triumph ... He has power when required, but sensitivity too, while the piano sound is particularly sensitive and appealing"; writing in Klassik heute, Peter Cossé hailed the recording as "... one of the most important acoustic exclamation marks of recent months". In 2007, his second CD will be released on the renowned record label Profil - Edition Günter Hänssler. |