There are only few violinists who master both - the classical repertoire as well as the wide field of jazz.
Benjamin Schmid feels at home in both areas: Two of the greatest masters have contributed to his success by their personality and wisdom:

Sir Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grappelli.

This portrait of Benjamin Schmid is based on an interview the artist gave to Ruprecht Hattinger, the owner of this Internet site, in Salzburg in August 2003.

Benjamin Schmid talks about his musical education, his way of working and about the projects in preparation. His opinion about great masters of the violin and about playing Mozart complete the interview.

Main topics and comments from this interview:

Early influences
Jazz and classic - a contradiction?
Working method and projects
Stylistic changes in playing the violin
Great violinists
Mozart and the violin
More humanity in music?
Original text of the interview in German

English translation from the German original thanks to
Stefan Kunzmann and Doris Kunzmann.