Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt

Cellist Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt combines solo work with appearances as conductor of the string ensemble Metamorphosen Berlin. He is also a noted educator. Schmidt's concerto credits include those with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the NDR Radio Philharmonic. His chamber music collaborators are a distinguished group that includes Lang Lang and Gil Shaham. Schmidt began his recording career with the album Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Violoncello, in 1999. He and cellist Jens Peter Maintz have performed as Cello Duello, which recorded an eponymously titled album in 2010. That year, Schmidt and violinist Indira Koch founded the string ensemble Metamorphosen Berlin, naming it after Richard Strauss' Metamorphosen. Schmidt remains the group's conductor, while Koch serves as the artistic director. Metamorphosen Berlin released its debut album in 2017, a recording of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. That group returned in 2021 with the album Very British.