If you saw Axel Schmitt, a UCLA student currently working on his
Doctor of Musical Arts degree, on campus, you’d never guess
he is a renowned pianist who has played in front of crowds all over
Europe and the United States.
But this Friday at Schoenberg Hall, Schmitt will reveal the
extraordinary musician behind the inconspicuous student during a
student recital.
As a child growing up in rural Germany, Schmitt started playing
the piano at 11. Titisee-Neustadt, Germany, a village of 300 or so
inhabitants, hardly seems like the place to foster a career in
music, but Schmitt persevered until he met teacher Leontina
Margulis in Freiburg, Germany in 1991. There, the budding pianist
also met his current teacher, UCLA Professor Vitaly Margulis.
“(Vitaly Margulis) was giving master classes; that’s
what inspired me to study with him and to learn more about
music,” Schmitt said.
His demeanor tells little of his experience. Under the thick
German accent and black-rimmed glasses, there is a dedicated
pianist who has been traveling, playing and winning awards for his
craft for more than half of his life. From the ages of 17 to 20,
Schmitt played in cities throughout Europe, such as Rome, Naples,
Tarquinia, his hometown Titisee-Neustadt and Baden-Baden.
A concert in which he performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto
No. 1 in C minor, in Moessingen, Germany, was recorded and issued
on CD and broadcast over the radio, to much critical acclaim.
Schmitt’s talent was recognized even before this exposure,
as he won first prize in 1992 at Jugend Musiziert, the national
German piano competition. And the next year, he was selected as a
guest soloist in Landesjugendorchester Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Schmitt finds his influences in older rather than contemporary
musicians. Backhaus, Cortort, Rachmarinoff and Schnobel are among
some of his favorites, names unknown to most men of his age.
Though he played the clarinet when he was younger, and did a
little church singing in the choir as a child, Schmitt now focuses
solely on the piano.
“What’s interesting about this recital is it’s
a kind of unusual program. It’s all dedicated to
Liszt’s transcriptions and paraphrases (of music pieces).
Those pieces are arranged from other pieces from orchestra or
symphony blocks, arranged for the piano, and they’re
interesting because they don’t get played much for the piano
today. They are not part of the standard repertoire.”
In 1995, Schmitt moved to Los Angeles to study with Professor
Margulis. He has since completed his bachelor’s and
master’s degrees ““ both in piano performance ““
and is currently working on his doctorate, also in piano
performance.
Schmitt has received many honors and awards during his study
here, namely the Sophia Guzik, Benno Rubyini and Regents
Scholarships.
Setting himself apart from other pianists, Schmitt chose the
pieces he will be playing because of their difficulty.
“Liszt tries to make the piano sound like an orchestra or
a singer,” Schmitt said. “And for pianists, it’s
maybe the most difficult thing to walk out on the stage and play a
Beethoven symphony by yourself, without a symphony. So it is
something that is really going to challenge me.”
Axel Schmitt performs Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. in Schoenberg Hall.
Admission is free.