KATARINA SCHMIDT

Born in Munich, Katarina Schmidt has dedicated herself to the cello since early childhood. In addition to many years of study with Prof. Wen-Sinn Yang at the University of Music and Theatre Munich and Natalia Gutman at the Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna, she deepened her interest in the field of historical performance practice by studying baroque cello with Prof. Kristin von der Goltz.

Another facet of her musical personality is her constant enthusiasm for chamber music, which is reflected in concerts with a wide variety of instrumentations and recordings by the Bavarian Radio.

Katarina Schmidt has performed successfully as a soloist with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim and the Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

Numerous prizes and honours have accompanied her career. In addition to the special prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work at the “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition”, she was also honoured with the “Leonhard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize” from the city of Munich. In 2016, she received both a special prize from the German Foundation for Musical Life for outstanding achievements as a finalist at the German Music Competition in Bonn and the Bärenreiter Urtext Verlag prize at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig. In 2017, she and her duo partner Tomomi Arakawa (fortepiano) won first prize in the Kulturkreis Gasteig competition in the historical performance practice category.

Katarina Schmidt has also performed at various festivals, including the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, Mit Musik-Miteinander in Kronberg and the Kronberg Academy’s masterclasses and cello festival.

She complements her musical education by regularly attending masterclasses with renowned soloists such as Frans Helmerson, Jens Peter Maintz and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.

Katarina has been a permanent member of the MKO since September 2021.