Ralf Schmid

Ralf Schmid, pianist and composer, is a passionate sound seeker. Highly active in Europe as well in the US and Latin America, he has worked with such diverse artists as Herbie Hancock, Daniel Hope or Whitney Houston. 
 Schmid is considered to be a jazz musician, but his portfolio has no boundaries and extends the sheer production of sound. Within his search for the undiscovered, he remains true to his personal musical language that he expands constantly by integrating new idioms. 
 Schmid is one of the sharp minds who freed themselves from the dogma of musical genres. Whether he conducts large ensembles as the radio Big Bands of Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart or Hamburg, writes for choirs or symphony orchestras, works on brazilian music projects with Ivan Lins or Paula Morelenbaum– his goal is musical holism. His music theater „A Distant Drum“ was premiered at the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York. 
 But Schmid does not content himself with past achievements. In his search for holistic expression in the virtual age, his mission is the amalgamation of the electronic and acoustic sound worlds as well as the the synaestesia of visual and auditive signals. In his newest project Pyanook, he not only inflames a ballet between two grand pianos but with specially designed data gloves, he can trigger and manipulate sounds in the flow of piano playing. The blend of sound and movement seems like magic.