Luis Schmidt Smism Email & Phone Number

Luis Schmidt is Director of Music and Chairman of Capella Edina, Edinburgh's first resident symphony orchestra since 1937. Through Capella Edina, he works closely with internationally renowned musicians such as Chris Bruerton (The King's Singers) and Robert Ames (London Contemporary Orchestra).Luis began his musical career by learning the trumpet at the Klenze-Gymnasium, a grammar school in Munich, Germany, at the age of ten. At the age of 15 he started conducting and established his own brass ensemble, which he quickly expanded to a wind band and thereafter a chamber orchestra.Luis then went on studying conducting with worldwide renowned conductor and Haydn researcher Bruno Weil. He was educated in the Swarowsky-method after the infamous Austrian conductor Hans Swarowsky, a pupil of Schönberg, professor of conducting at the Vienna Music Academy, and teacher of some of the most acclaimed conductors today.It is Luis’ mission to make classical music more accessible to a wider audience and to present lesser well-known yet very beautiful works in unique concert concepts. The orchestral world can sometimes be quite restricted to only playing classical music, but in his opinion, the true unifying value of music as a universal form of communication can only be revealed by also giving attention to other genres, such as jazz, folk, pop & rock, and contemporary music.Aside from conducting, Luis works as a composer, arranger, and music engraver on projects ranging from classical to media music.