JOHAN
PIANO
SCHMIDT
Royal Conservatory of Brussels
Johan Schmidt, one of the personalities of Belgian musical life, has acquired a remarkable reputation both for his virtuosity and his sensitivity. A pupil of Master Eduardo del Pueyo, he then perfected his skills with Master Karl-Heinz Kämmerling in Hanover. He has participated in many international competitions. It is in particular :
• Winner of the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Musical Competition (Brussels)
for which he also won the public prize of la RTBF.
• First prize at the Maria Canals Competition (Athens)
• Third prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow)
• First prize at the Japan Competition (Tokyo)
• Winner of the “Van Cliburn International Piano Competition”
Johan Schmidt plays regularly with the main Belgian orchestras (ONB, Philharmonique de Liège and the Filarmonisch Orkest van Vlanderen), and he also performs with international orchestras such as: The New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the 'Athens Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the RTL Orchestra and the National Orchestra of France (Lille), Quingdao Orchestra (China), under the direction of conductors P. Bartholomée, J. Semkov, K. Takaseki, T. Bloomfield, KA Richenbacker, F. Schipway, P. Daniel, G. Neuhold and Jean-Claude Casadesus.
His qualities as a soloist led him to be the guest of prestigious halls such as the Gasteig in Munich, the Schauspielhaus in Berlin, the Concertgebouw in Amesterdam, the Auditorium du Châtelet in Paris, the Suntory and Casals Halls in Tokyo, the Symphony Hall in Osaka, the Rachmaninoff Hall in Moscow, the Herod Aticus Theater in Athens, the Palace of Fine Arts in Brussels and the Museum of Tel Aviv.
His interest in chamber music led him to perform with violinist Augustin Dumay, the Malher Piano Quartet, the American String Quartet and Eyal Shiloach, Ronald Van Spaendonck, Laurent Breuninger, Elsa Grether .
Many performances were broadcast by various televisions: PBS nationwide (USA), ZDF (Germany), NHK (Japan), VRT and RTBF (Belgium) as well as TV5 . Johan Schmidt was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Prize crowning a young European and awarded by the Rotary Club.
Johan Schmidt is also a professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and at the University of Quingdao (China).