Conductor and pianist Stephan Schmidt, professor of opera repertoire and dean of studies at the State University for Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart, Germany, will present a guest artist voice and piano master class at the West Virginia University Creative Arts Center on Tuesday (March 5).

The master class will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (200A) and is free and open to the public.

WVU students who will be performers for the master class include singers Jennifer Berkebile, Sharon Lankford, Saeyeon Kim and Aaron Scarberrry, and pianists Sora Lee, Zhiwei Zheng, Khe Sin Koo and Yana Tyulkova.

“This is such an exciting opportunity for our students,” said WVU piano professor Lucy Mauro. “Stephan Schmidt has worked with virtually all the foremost singers of his time, and he is a much sought-after teacher by numerous students from around the world.”

Schmidt has served as conductor at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and assistant to Zubin Mehta, as well as being assistant and pianist to Barenboim at Bayreuth, including for the highly regarded Kupfer/Barenboim DVD recordings of “Das Rheingold” and “Die G�tterd�mmerung.”

He has also been head of music for opera houses in Cologne, Bremen and Saarbruecken and assisted Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Georg Solti and Sir Colin Davis, among others.

He has been a frequent guest conductor for orchestras throughout Germany and chamber musician and collaborative pianist in concert and recording and served as the founder and artistic director of a new Bach Academy in Munich.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard, Schmidt studied composition in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and conducting with Leon Barzin in New York. Currently he also teaches at the Abraxas Musical Academy in Munich.

For more information about the master class, contact the College of Creative Arts at 304-293-4359.

-WVU-

cl/02/27/13

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.