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 is the viola professor at VCU and has been the Director of VCU’s Mary-Anne Rennolds Chamber Concerts series since 2006. Stephen joined the Richmond Chamber Players as their violist in 2003, adding the duties of Artistic Director from 2013-2023.

In 2023 Stephen was a guest performer at Wintergreen Music Festival and in 2022 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. From 2011-2019 he taught at the RSO/VCU “Orchestra Project” summer program in Richmond. Prior to 2011 he spent 15 summers teaching 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.

Growing up outside of Philadelphia, Stephen started commuting at the age of 14 to The Juilliard School to attend their 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. He also performed at many music festivals, including Tanglewood, Spoleto (Italy), National Repertory Orchestra, Bowdoin Chamber Music Festival, Estherwood and Kinhaven.

Stephen currently plays violas made by Gaetano Antoniazzi (Milan, 1877) and Petrus Antonius Malvolti (Firenze, 1717).