Andreas Brantelid featuring Benjamin Schmid
Biography Andreas Brantelid featuring Benjamin Schmid
Andreas Brantelid
was born in Copenhagen in 1987 to Swedish/Danish parents. After receiving early tuition from his father Ingemar, Andreas made his soloist debut at the age of 14 in a performance of the Elgar concerto with the Royal Danish Orchestra in Copenhagen. Today, Andreas is one of the most sought-after performing artists from Scandinavia, winning worldwide critical acclaim for his ability to make the music not only sound, but both speak, dance and sing.
Highlights of recent orchestra engagements includes appearances with the London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC Symphony, and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Yomiyuri Nippon Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Radio Symphony, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Munich Chamber Orchestra, as well as all the major orchestras in the Nordic countries. He has worked with many distinguished conductors including Andris Nelsons, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philippe Herreweghe, Vasily Petrenko, Thomas Dausgaard, Pablo Heras-Casado, Andrew Manze, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Robin Ticciati, and Heinrich Schiff.
Among the musicians who inspired and strongly influenced Andreas are pianist Bengt Forsberg and violinist Nils-Erik Sparf, both of whom Andreas has played with since 2002 in different chamber music formats. Andreas has also collaborated with artists such as Daniel Barenboim, Gidon Kremer, Joshua Bell, Vadim Repin, Nikolaj Znaider, Lawrence Power and Paul Badura-Skoda. Recently he has formed a trio with Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid and Norwegian pianist Christian Ihle Hadland. Together with Hadland he also forms the artistic direction of Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival in Norway since 2018.
Andreas Brantelid has appeared in venues such as Dortmund Konzerthaus, where he has been a ‘Junge Wilde’ artist, New York (Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall), London (Wigmore Hall), Zurich (Tonhalle), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Barcelona (Palau de la Música), Salzburg (Mozarteum) and Tokyo (Metropolitan Theatre). He also performs at festivals including Verbier, Lockenhaus, Jerusalem, Stavanger, Bergen, Risør, Kuhmo, and Wiener Festwochen, and has been a member of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society.
His debut disc of the Tchaikovsky, Schumann and Saint-Saëns cello concertos with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra was released by EMI in 2008, and since then his discography has grown long. Most recent he released a much acclaimed CD with both Haydn Cello Concertos in 2021 with the period ensemble Concerto Copenhagen led by Lars Ulrik Mortensen and his latest release “48 Strings” from 2022 features music for 1, 2, 4 and 12 celli and pays homage to the four greatest cellists from the beginning of the 20th century. Also in 2022, he finished a remarkable project with video recordings of Piatti’s 12 Caprices available on Youtube and Apple Music.
Andreas won first prizes in the 2006 Eurovison Young Musicians Competion, the 2007 International Paulo Cello Competition and, in subsequent years, received music awards and fewllowships including the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2008, the BBC’s New Generation Artist 2008-2011, The Europan Concert Hall Organization “Rising Star” tour in the 2008/09 season. In 2015 he received the Carl Nielsen Prize in Copenhagen and since 2022 Andreas has been teaching at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.
Andreas plays the 1707 ‘Boni-Hegar’ Stradivarius, which has been made available to him by the generous support of Norwegian art collector Christen Sveaas. Andreas Brantelid lives with his wife and four daughters in Nærum near Copenhagen.
Benjamin Schmid
A truly multifaceted and most versatile of today’s violinists, Viennese-born violinist Benjamin Schmid is renowned for his extraordinarily broad artistic range. In addition to over 75 concertos in his repertoire, he champions works by composers such as Hartmann, Gulda, Korngold, Muthspiel, Szymanowski, Wolf-Ferrari, Lutoslawski and Reger. Schmid also has a successful career in jazz and regularly presents his Hommage à Grappelli programme at jazz venues and classical concert halls alike.
Artistic Director of the Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra in Sweden from 2020 until 2024, Benjamin Schmid now continues his successful artistic work in diverse play/direct projects with the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Further highlights of the 2024/25 season include appearances with Wuppertaler Sinfonieorchester, Zagreb Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano and Gothenburg Opera Orchestra amongst many others.
Benjamin Schmid has a close relationship with Wiener Philharmoniker and their notable collaborations include the opening concert of the Salzburger Festspiele as well as performances at Vienna Musikverein and, in 2011, at Schloss Schönbrunn with the Paganini-Kreisler Concerto under the baton of Valery Gergiev, which was broadcast in over 60 countries and released on CD and DVD by Deutsche Grammophon.
He has a discography of over 50 albums, many of which have won critical acclaim and awards including the ECHO Klassik, Gramophone Editor’s Choice and Strad Selection. His recording of Ligeti’s Violin Concerto was named Record of the Month by Gramophone magazine, and his album of Wolf-Ferrari’s Violin Concerto was nominated for the Vierteljahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
Benjamin Schmid won the Carl Flesch International Competition in 1992, where he also received the Mozart, Beethoven and Audience prizes. He holds a professorship at the Mozarteum Salzburg and teaches masterclasses at Hochschule der Künste Bern. He was a member of the jury at the 2017 ARD International Music Competition for violin, and Chairman of the Jury at the 2019 International Leopold Mozart Violin Competition.
Regular collaborations include with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Christoph von Dohnányi, Riccardo Chailly, Yuri Temirkanov, John Storgårds and Hannu Lintu, and with orchestras including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Concerto Köln. US engagaments have included the Baltimore and Houston Symphony orchestras, Washington National Symphony Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic and Naples Philharmonic Jazz and Curtis Institute orchestras. In Asia, he appears with the likes of New Japan Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony and at the Hong Kong Festival.
Benjamin Schmid plays the “ex-Viotti” Stradivarius of 1718, on generous loan by the Österreichische Nationalbank.
