Hailed by critics for his commanding presence and effortless technique, violinist Giora Schmidt is quickly establishing himself as a virtuoso of the grand tradition - with a distinctive sound.
He has appeared with numerous symphony orchestras across North America including, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, New Jersey, Fort Worth, San Diego, Vancouver, Toronto, and the Israel Philharmonic. In 2003, he made his Carnegie Hall debut performing the Barber Violin Concerto with the New York Youth Symphony.
In recital, Mr. Schmidt has performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Ravinia Rising Stars series, San Francisco Performances, the Louvre Museum in Paris, and Tokyo’s Musashino Cultural Hall. A passionate chamber musician, he has collaborated with eminent musicians including Yefim Bronfman, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum and Michael Tree. Mr. Schmidt is a regular participant at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
Born in 1983 to professional Israeli musicians, Mr. Schmidt began playing the violin at the age of four. At 13, he met Maestro Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program and at 16 was invited by Perlman to study under him full-time at the Juilliard Pre College. Mr. Schmidt continued his studies with Perlman at the Juilliard School and also with the late violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay.
Mr. Schmidt was the First Prize winner of Philadelphia Orchestra’s Greenfield Competition in 2000, the recipient of a 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and in 2005 won the Classical Recording Foundation’s Samuel Sanders Award. When not touring, Mr. Schmidt is on the faculties of the Juilliard School and the Perlman Music Program. His debut recital disc Vocalise was released in September 2007 on Allegro/Endeavour Classics.