Schmidt made first compositional attempts from 1986 and was a member of rock and jazz ensembles as a pianist, keyboardist, trumpeter and songwriter. From 1993 Schmidt undertook first serious studies in counterpoint, harmony and morphology. From 1995 he took private composition lessons with Franklin Cox (University of Maryland, USA). Later he studied with Bernd Asmus, Jan Kopp (Stuttgart, Germany) and John Palmer (composer). Since 2000/2001 he created first compositions of new music. Since then, Schmidt has created solo pieces for piano, cello, violin, flute, clarinet and trombone, as well as a contrabass duo, a string trio, three vocal pieces for female voices, songs and various works for chamber ensembles. Schmidt's works have been performed in Germany, the USA, Russia and Mexico. He worked with the Belcanto Soloists, the New York Miniaturist Ensemble and the Trio Mondala, the Art Ensemble Berlin, the Duo Simolka & Wohlhauser and the Frankfurter Tonkünstlerbund, among others. (Wikipedia)