Leonhard Schmidinger
Born in 1966 in Wels, Leonhard Schmidinger began his artistic career on the violin and received percussion lessons from the age of eight. He subsequently studied percussion at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
He received his first engagement in 1981 as a percussionist with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, at that time the youngest professional musician in Austria. Since 1983 he has served there as principal timpanist.
Leonhard Schmidinger has appeared as a guest timpanist with many renowned orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg.
As a versatile percussionist, he also performs with Supercussion Vienna, the Wiener Virtuosen, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, the Austrian Chamber Symphony and Ensemble Aktuell.
In his solo career, he has performed, among others, the Concert Piece for Timpani and Orchestra by Mauricio Kagel and the solo concerto "Rough Music" by H. K. Gruber. He has also given the world premieres of the Concerto for Vibraphone and Orchestra by Bruno Hartl and the Concert Overture for Marimba and Orchestra by Balduin Sulzer.
Another field of activity for Leonhard Schmidinger has been chamber music with international artists such as Martha Argerich, Tzimon Barto, Ferhan and Ferzan Önder, Stefan Vladar, Benjamin Schmid, Clemens Hagen and Christian Altenburger.
A long and intensive collaboration connects him with multipercussionist Martin Grubinger, leading to appearances at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Beethovenfest Bonn and the Salzburg Festival.
In addition to his concert activities, Leonhard Schmidinger is active as an educator and is Professor at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz and the Konservatorium Wien Private University. He has served as a lecturer in Japan, Hungary, Germany and with the European Philharmonic Orchestra.
During the European Capital of Culture year Linz09, he worked as curator for the concert series "Circus".
