The Greenwich Village Orchestra (GVO), led by Music Director Barbara Yahr, opens its 2019-2020 season on Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 3:00pm at All Saints Church by taking part in the worldwide Pastoral Project, joining artists from around the world in performances of Beethoven's 6th Symphony, "Pastoral", to demonstrate commitment to environmental protection and sustainability. The program also features world-renowned German cellist Wolfgang Schmidt as soloist in Dvorak's beloved cello concerto.
Future GVO concerts at All Saints Church this fall include Defying Death on Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 3:00pm featuring Metropolitan Opera bass
Christian Zaremba and a family concert on December 8, 2019.
About the Beethoven Pastoral Project (
www.beethoven-pastoral-project.com)
In 2020 the world will celebrate the 250th anniversary of
Ludwig van Beethoven. Today Bonn, the City of Beethoven, is a UNO city and seat of the UN's Climate Change Secretariat. As part of the World Climate Change Conference COP23 in Bonn, the Beethoven Jubilaeums Gesellschaft (Beethoven Anniversary Society) announces a first major project for Beethoven Year 2020. The project invites artists around the world to establish a network and join forces, to make their own interpretations of
Ludwig van Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Symphony, and through their creativity shape a powerful statement about environmental protection and sustainable development - for a better world for all of us!
Called "
one of the leading cellists of his generation" by his teacher Mstislav Rostropovitch, Wolfgang Schmidt also studied with David Geringas and Aldo Parisot. He was awarded the "Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris" at the International Rostropovitch Competition in Paris and was a prize winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the International Leonard Rose Cello Competition in the USA.
Mr Schmidt has performed with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France Paris, Staatskapelle Weimar, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, under the batons of Gerd Albrecht, Hermann Baümer, Jiri Belohlavek, Andrey Boreyko, Charles Dutoit, Gabriel Feltz, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Marek Janowski,
Nicholas Milton, Heinz Rögner, Donald Runnicles, Yutaka Sado, Michael Sanderling, Vassili Sinaiski, Heinz Wallberg, and Hugh Wolff.
He has performed in many of the world's most prestigious concert halls including the Berlin Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonie, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Theatre du Champs Elysee,
Theatre Du Chatelet in Paris, Wigmore Hall,
Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and at the Ravinia and Piatigorsky Festivals.
Mr. Schmidt is also much acclaimed as a conductor and has led, as conductor or as director/soloist, the Nordwestdeutschen Philharmonie Herford, Christchurch Symphony New Zealand, Kammerorchester of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Württembergischen Philharmonie Reutlingen, Sinfonieorchester Lviv Ukraine, Staatskapelle Sankt Petersburg, and Südwestdeutschen Kammerorchester. He is the Music Director and Conductor of Kammerphilharmonie Metamorphosen Berlin a chamber ensemble that draws it's musicians from the top instrumentalists across Europe who performs regularly in the Konzerthaus, Berlin and on tour across Europe. Their first album, Inspiration, presenting the string music of Herbert, Suk and Dvořák was released in 2015 followed by their second album, Serenade, presenting the string music of Tchaikovsky.
As a soloist he has recorded many concerto and recital albums for Sony including those with Gabriel Feltz and the NDR Radiophilharmonic, and for Solo Musica as Cello Duello with cellist, Jens Peter Maintz winning several Diapason d'Or, Meómano d'Oro and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik awards.
He devotes himself also to chamber music and performs with such renowned artists as
Lang Lang, Christoph Eschenbach, Emanuel Ax, Gil Shaham, Nicolaj Znaider, Leonidas Kavakos, Kyoko Takezawa, Miriam Fried,
Edgar Meyer and David Shifrin. He has performed solo and chamber recitals for the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival in Los Angeles and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville and tours as Cello Duello across Europe and the USA.
Mr. Schmidt teaches at the Academy of Music
Franz Liszt in Weimar, the University of the Arts in Berlin, and at the Kronberg Academy. He was a member of the Faculty of the 2019 Aspen Festival and Music School.
