Instrument: Viola

Dr. Stephen Schmidt has been a full-time violist with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra since 1996 and was also the principal violist of the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra from 2009-17. He teaches viola as an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and is the Director of VCU’s Mary-Anne Rennolds Chamber Concerts, a series that presents concerts and masterclasses by internationally renowned chamber groups and classical instrumentalists. He has taught masterclasses and hosted special guest artists including Kim Kashkashian, Paul Neubauer, Roberto Diaz, Roger Tapping, and Kazuhide Isomura for several Violapalooza events held at VCU and sponsored by the Virginia Viola Society.

In 2003 Stephen joined the Richmond Chamber Players as their violist, adding the duty of Artistic Director from 2013-2023. In July of 2023 he was a guest performer at Wintergreen Music Festival, performing in world premieres by Reena Esmail and Clarice Assad. In June of 2022 Stephen participated in the National Music Festival as a Faculty Mentor/Performer. He has performed many times on the Summer at Centerstage Recital series in Richmond, including 2024. From 2011-2019 he taught at the RSO/VCU “Orchestra Project” summer program in Richmond, joining their organizational team from 2014-2019. Prior to 2011 he spent 15 summers teaching and performing at the Performing Arts Institute in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Stephen has played the world premieres of solo viola and chamber works by Allan Blank, Randall Thompson, and Jonathan Leshnoff.

In 2012 Stephen appeared in two scenes in Steven Spielberg’s film “Lincoln” - in one as the concertmaster and in another as the conductor. During 2014 he appeared as a violinist in AMC channel’s television show “Turn – Washington’s Spies” and in the pilot episode of Amazon’s Civil War-era show “Point of Honor.”

Growing up outside of Philadelphia, Stephen started commuting at the age of 14 to New York City to attend The Juilliard School’s Pre-College program. He went on to earn Pre-College, Bachelor of Music, and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, and subsequently earned a Doctorate from Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University. His teachers have included Roberto Diaz, Paul Neubauer, Joseph DePasquale, Eugene Becker, Paul Doktor, and Janee Munroe. As a performer he participated in masterclasses taught by Karen Tuttle, Toby Appel, Emanuel Vardi, Patricia McCarty, and Victoria Chiang. He also performed at many music festivals, including Tanglewood, Spoleto (Italy), National Repertory Orchestra, Bowdoin Chamber Music Festival, Estherwood and Kinhaven.

Stephen is an avid record and cd collector and loves digging through record stores and record collections. Always dreaming about rare old instruments (and vintage cars), he currently performs on violas made by Gaetano Antoniazzi (Milan, 1877) and Petrus Antonius Malvolti (Firenze, 1717).