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Douglas Schmidt
Douglas has been tuning and working on pianos for over 25 years. He mentored under Ted Sambell, who was the head piano technician at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and technician for Glenn Gould. He holds a piano technician certificate from George Brown College. Douglas has lived, taught and played music in Canada, Germany, Vietnam, Thailand and Guatemala. He is now located in Enderby in the Okanagan Valley.
Frustrated with the repertoire, Douglas first experience as a composer came from writing music for the accordion. He was accepted into the University of Saskatchewan music degree based on his composition sketches and graduated with Great Distinction honours. Since then he received a Doctorate of Music Composition from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Douglas has been a resident composer with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, and for a short time with the Esprit Symphony Orchestra Toronto.
Performances as a composer and/or performer have included: the Buffalo Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony Society, Napa Valley Symphony Society, Montreal Symphony, Hamilton Symphony, Gatineaü Symphony, Montana Symphony Orchestra, Kamloops Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Halifax Symphony, Ottawa Symphony, Esprit Orchestra, Shreveport Symphony, Berlin Philharmonie, Orchestra London, the Esprit Symphony Orchestra Toronto, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) Conservatory of Music.
Douglas currently composes and plays in an all-original duo with colleague composer John Oliver, as well as an all-original trio Squid in Chains, and also composes and plays with his quartet Cafe Tango.
Douglas has been a resident composer with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, and for a short time with the Esprit Symphony Orchestra Toronto.
Performances as a composer and/or performer have included: the Buffalo Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony Society, Napa Valley Symphony Society, Montreal Symphony, Hamilton Symphony, Gatineaü Symphony, Montana Symphony Orchestra, Kamloops Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Halifax Symphony, Ottawa Symphony, Esprit Orchestra, Shreveport Symphony, Berlin Philharmonie, Orchestra London, the Esprit Symphony Orchestra Toronto, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) Conservatory of Music.
Douglas currently composes and plays in an all-original duo with colleague composer John Oliver, as well as an all-original trio Squid in Chains, and also composes and plays with his quartet Cafe Tango.
Douglas has performed on 5 Juno award winning recordings, received an OPUS award with Quartango at Quebec Music Council, and was chosen top West Coast keyboardist of the year by CFOX Radio in Vancouver. He has performed 4 times at the Berlin Philharmonie, performed with the Montreal Symphony, Victoria Symphony, San Fransisco Symphony Society, for the Napa Valley Symphony, the CBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra London, The Esprit Symphony Orchestra (Toronto), and the Montana Symphony. He currently performs on bandoneon with his group Cafe Tango, and with Francois Houle and John Oliver in the trio Squid in Chains as well as saxophone and bandoneon in his favourite duo with composer/electronic musician John Oliver. His latest album releases are The Persistence of Memory, Sirens of Kiev, and Symphony #1 - Winter & Symphony #2 - Iceberg on Earsay Label.
Symphony No 1 - Winter, by Douglas Schmidt and John Oliver
earsay welcomes Squid in Chains.
Symphony No 1 - Winter, by Douglas Schmidt and John Oliver
earsay welcomes Squid in Chains.
Douglas has been a successful music educator with students receiving numerous accolades. He is currently an examiner for the IB International Baccalaureate program. Douglas has taught successful students as a faculty member at the University of Victoria, as an outreach educator for the Esprit orchestra Toronto , the Victoria Symphony, and has been department head at International Schools in Germany, Vietnam, Thailand (Mahidol University) and Guatemala. Douglas was the head instructor for Asia Music and Performing Arts Education, teaching instructors how to best implement effective music courses and curriculum in their music teaching. Douglas has taught students ranging from 5 years to Masters degree. Douglas philosophy is “you don’t work music you play it.”
Private instruction on:
Private instruction on:
- Piano
- Saxophone
- Clarinet
- Accordion
- Music Theory (beginner and advanced)
- Music Composition