Meet our Assistant Conductor

For those who attend our concerts regularly, you might recognize Eric Schmidt as a one of the back row basses, but you may not know that he is also our assistant conductor, currently studying with our artistic director, Barlow Bradford.

He will conduct two pieces at our upcoming Collage Concert on Monday including Samuel Barber’s “To Be Sung on the Water” and “Gloria” from Missa Rigensis by Uģis Prauliņš.

Eric came to Utah from Germany in the Fall of 2012 and quickly established himself in the choral landscape of Salt Lake City. He is presently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Choral Conducting under the direction of Dr. Barlow Bradford at the University of Utah where he works as a Teaching Assistant in the Choral Department. Besides the work with the award-winning University choirs, he serves as the Assistant Conductor of the Utah Chamber Artists as well as the Utah Symphony Chorus. During the Fall Semester 2014 he was the visiting director of choirs at Westminster College where he also worked as the music director of the opera program. In addition, Eric is a member of the Madeleine Choir School faculty where he teaches choir, math and conducts for the Cathedral of the Madeleine. He is also frequent guest conductor of The Choral Arts Society of Utah.

Before coming to the United States, Eric earned his Bachelor of Arts and his Master of Education in Music and Mathematics from the University of Osnabruck in 2012 where he was a Teaching Assistant in Music Theory and Aural Skills for 5 of his 6 years. While there, he received the Bossmann Award for outstanding piano performance in 2010.