Brian A. Schmidt is a GRAMMY©️-nominated conductor with a twenty-year career focused on developing meaningful musical experiences for audiences and artists alike. Schmidt currently serves as artistic director on the team of Gateway Music Festivals & Tours, helping design life-changing performance tours for bands and choirs nationally and internationally.
Schmidt was founder and conductor of the South Dakota Chorale, leading the development of a choir that released several acclaimed recordings which Gramophone Magazine described as “luminous,” Audiophile Audition called “stunning,” and the ensemble was hailed as “one of the most exciting choral ensembles in America” by Sounds Choral (WWFM). His discography includes recordings found on Pentatone, MSR Classics, Gothic Records, and Oxford University Press Music.
He served at Duke University where he conducted the Duke Vespers Ensemble at Duke Chapel. While at Duke, he also founded Cappella Baroque, a professional period-instrument orchestra specializing in early music and a popular monthly Bach Cantata Series.
Most recently, Schmidt served as Associate Professor of Choral Music at Baylor University and conducted the Baylor A Cappella Choir and Chamber Singers, along with leading the graduate program in choral conducting. He also founded and ran the Baylor International Choral Conducting Masterclass and Young Artist Program (ICCM), an intensive summer program providing training for the next generation of young choral conductors/singers that hosted guest teachers such as Martina Batic, Stefan Parkman, and Richard Sparks.
Schmidt studied choral music at South Dakota State University and holds a master’s degree and doctorate of music arts in choral conducting at the University of North Texas.