Biography
Classical style new age composer and pianist Jon Schmidt entered the world in Salt Lake City, Utah. German immigrants who favored classical music raised him, and he appeared in piano recitals by age eight. Well before adolescence he started writing original pieces, mastered “Mozart Sonatas” with ease, and joined his musician father onstage on numerous occasions. More than ten years of formal classical study followed. At sixteen the dynamic shifted when he began teaching piano himself, and by his early twenties he devoted himself entirely to a professional music path. His first recording, the independently issued August End, reached listeners in 1991. After joining Aubergine Records he delivered Walk in the Woods in 1993, then A Day in the Sunset the next year, Jon Schmidt Christmas in 1997, and To the Summit in 2000—the last of these appearing on his own JSP Productions imprint. New age listeners encounter such evocative pieces as “Heart of a Child,” “Winter Wind,” “Song of the Ocean,” “Waterfall,” and “Homecoming” across his catalog. He regularly takes the stage at prominent concert halls and has collaborated with David Arkenstone, John Tesh, Kurt Bestor, Lex de Azevedo, and Peter Breinholt. Beyond recordings, Schmidt authors sheet music and instructional volumes, among them New Age Classical Piano Solos, Vol. 1.