"Schmid´s is the kind of playing that can´t fail to win listeners over."
The Strad, May 2005

Probably one of the most versatile of today’s violinists, Benjamin Schmid’s particular strength lies in his exceptionally wide repertoire and very personal style. Described as “one of the most valuable of today’s golden-age-violinists” (The New York Sun), his work has also been acclaimed as as “a violin classic” (The Strad). An accomplished jazz violinist,, Schmid has also worked with Stéphane Grappelli.

Born in Vienna in 1968, Benjamin Schmid studied in Salzburg, Vienna and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He won a number of international awards, amongst them the Carl Flesch Competition - winning the Mozart, Beethoven and Audience Prizes. Having performed Korngold’s Violin Concerto with Wiener Philharmoniker and Seiji Ozawa in three concerts at the Musikverein in June 2007, he was immediately re-invited.

At the very core of Schmid’s career are his interpretations of works by Austrian composers such as Berg, Goldmark, Korngold, Kreisler, Mozart, Muthspiel, Schönberg and Webern. Each year Schmid also allocates a proportion of his time to playing chamber music, with, amongst others, Sabine Meyer and Clemens Hagen. Together with pianist Ariane Haering he concentrates on works by Mozart, which they have also recorded together.  A passionate recording artist, Schmid has built up an impressive discography consisting of more than 20 CDs.

Engagements with leading orchestras include the Philharmonia, Royal Concertgebouw and the Czech Philharmonic orchestras, as well the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich (with David Zinman), Wiener Philharmoniker, the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Danish Opera, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Other engagements have seen Schmid work with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester as well as Berner and Zürcher kammerorchesters, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Houston and Baltimore Symphony orchestras.

Schmid is also a frequent guest at the important European festivals. In particular, he has been highly present at the Salzburg Festival for more than 20 years now. His first appearance in 1986 with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Sir Yehudi Menuhin was followed by a large number of orchestral concerts, recitals, chamber music and jazz recitals. Benjamin Schmid’s extraordinarily successful jazz programme, “Hommage à Grappelli”, is regularly staged at renowned jazz venues and classical concert halls alike.

“Schmid mesmerises from his very first entry, shaping phrases with a skin-rippling sensitivity to send the spirits soaring. His golden tone, immaculate intonation, faultless technique and total identification with this magical score are truly things of wonder. A violin classic.”
Strad Magazine, March 2006