Heather Schmidt - Pianist & Composer Biographical Sketch
Heather Schmidt, pianist and composer, has emerged as one of the most talented, exciting and versatile musicians of her generation. She has received national and international recognition through performances, broadcasts, commissions and awards in North America, South America and Europe. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, she is currently based in the United States.
Heather received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University with double majors in composition and piano performance. In 1996, at the age of 21, she became the youngest student to ever to receive a Doctor of Music degree from that institution. She subsequently completed two years of professional studies at Juilliard in New York City, studying composition with Milton Babbitt and piano with Yoheved Kaplinsky.
Heather began studying piano at the age of four and composition at the age of five. One year later, she made her first public appearance, and has been performing ever since. She has given solo recitals throughout North America, and has performed concerti with many Canadian orchestras. Recently she performed with the Aguascalientes Orchestra in Mexico. In October 2003, Heather was invited by the Governor General of Canada to perform with cellist Shauna Rolston and soprano Measha Brueggergosman as part of Canada's state delegation visit to Finland and Iceland. Awards in piano performance include first prize in the 2001 Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, and First Place, the Audience Choice Award, and the Maestro's Choice Millennium Foundation Award at the 2000 Canadian Concerto Competition. Earlier awards include first prize in the 1992 Austrian-Canadian Mozart Competition, and the Rose Bowl and Gold Medal for "most outstanding performer" at the Kiwanis Music Festival.
In addition to a busy performing schedule, Heather is the composer-in-residence for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in Ontario, Canada (2002-05). She has won many prestigious national and international prizes in composition including three consecutive BMI awards, the Zwilich Prize in the International League of Woman Composers, the Robert Fleming Prize from Canada Council, and a Fleck Fellow Award from the Banff Centre. In 2003 she was a prize winner of the Polytech Choir's 100th Anniversary Composition Competition in Finland, and was also nominated for a Juno Award for her Cello Concerto, under the category of "Best Classical Composition."
Commercial recordings featuring Heather as pianist and/or composer include her newly released solo piano CD "Solus" on the Centrediscs label, which features music by Heather Schmidt, Kelly-Marie Murphy, Allan Bell and Malcolm Forsyth. The Amernet Quartet's performance of her string quartet Phantoms is available on a CD entitled "Music from Banff - Live from Carnegie Hall" (Marquis label, EMI Canada). Heather's Cello Concerto (1998) was recorded by cellist Shauna Rolston with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra under Mario Bernardi, and was released in 2001 by CBC Records on "This is the Colour of My Dreams."
