biography 

Ted Schmitz is a tenor currently living in Berlin.  Highlights include his work with Seattle Opera, Opera Bellas Artes Mexico City, Nico and the Navigators, Bregenzer Festspiele, Aldeburgh Festival, Glyndebourne and The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

In the 2022/2023 season, Mr. Schmitz will sing DON BASILIO in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro and the role of JEPPO LIVEROTTO in Lucrezia Borgia with the Aalto-Musiktheater Essen.  Ted returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to cover the role of REVEREND ADAMS in Peter Grimes. Mr. Schmitz will also perform and conceive two new works with Nico and the Navigators, the international performance ensemble based in Berlin.  The first, Lost in Loops with the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, is based on Shaker Loops by John Adams and will premier at the Berlin Konzerthaus.  The second is The Wasted Land, a staged concert based on T.S. Elliot’s epic poem Wasteland, premiering at Berlin Radialsystem.  

In the spring of 2024, Mr. Schmitz will perform Silent Songs, an all-Schubert staged concert, with Nico and the Navigators at the Shanghai Concert Hall.

Recent engagements include DON BASILIO and DON CURZIO in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Volkstheater Rostock, REVERAND ADAMS in Peter Grimes at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, ACHANTE in the American premiere of Rameau’s Sympathy at Victory Hall Opera, cover of TAPIOCA L’Étoile at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the WITCH OF ENDOR in Handel’s Saul at the Glyndebourne Festival. DER WIRT and both HAUSHOFMEISTER in Der Rosenkavalier with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons, cover of PETER QUINT The Turn of the Screw with Glyndebourne on Tour, WILHELM MEISTER Mignon with New Sussex Opera, REVERAND ADAMS in the Chinese premiere of Peter Grimes National Centre for the Performing Arts Beijing, several roles of ACHMET, CROOK and THE GRAND INQUISITOR in Bernstein’s Candide with the MDR Orchestra in Leipzig.  And in 2021, a film version for ARTE of a new staged work entitled Force and Freedom with Nico and the Navigators, comprised of Beethoven musical works with the Kuss Quartet.

A regular guest with Nico and the Navigators, Mr. Schmitz can be seen in five other ongoing productions: Empathy for the Devil, a staged concert; Niemand Stirbt in der Mitte seines Lebens, a staged concert of pre-existing works based on the theme of death, at Konzerthaus Berlin, Radialsystem Berlin;  Silent Songs, an all-Schubert staged concert, performing at BOZAR, Brussels; Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Staatstheater Oldenburug; Staatstheater Braunschweig; Konzerthaus Berlin; Radialsystem Berlin, Hitzacker Festival and Arsenal de Metz; Die Zukunft von Gestern, a new production at Sophiensaele Berlin and Radialsystem Berlin; and Die Stunde da wir zu viel von einander wussten, a new production at Kampnagel Hamburg, Radialsystem BerlinOpera Nimes and Theatre d’Antibes.

Mr. Schmitz has had much success with the role of ASCHENBACH in Britten’s Death in Venice performed with Opera de Bellas Artes Mexico City and covered with the Aldeburgh Festival.  Mr. Schmitz also performed the role of HOTEL PORTER in Death in Venice with Aldeburgh and Bregenzer Festspiele under the direction of Yoshii Oida.

Other opera credits include: DON BASILIO and DON CURZIO in Le Nozze di Figaro with Seattle Opera. PETER QUINT The Turn of the Screw, and DR. CAIUS Falstaff, FERRANDO Cosi fan tutte, TAMINO The Magic Flute all as a Young Artist with Seattle Opera. JOHANSSON in Die Gespenstersonate by Aribert Reimann with Kammer Oper Vienna; DAVID Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with the Mastersingers Company London; TAPIOCA in L’Étoile with New Sussex Opera; GASTONE in La Traviata with Opera Project; REMENDADO in Carmen with the Cambridge Philharmonic; DR. CAIUS Falstaff with Mid-Wales Opera; TAMINO The Magic Flute with Opera Brava; and FERRANDO Cosi fan tutte with Castleward Opera, TELEMACO Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria at the Globe Theatre London with the Britten-Pears Programme; MARS in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Thespis London Kensington Sinfonia; and a West End season of Gilbert & Sullivan at the Gielgud Theatre; and a recording of Ethyl Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate with Retrospect Opera

Mr. Schmitz has premiered songs by Ned Rorem and John Musto with the New York Festival of Song.  Other concert credits include Les Noces (Stravinsky) and Paukenmesse (Haydn) with the Auckland Philharmonic in New Zealand, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor Horn and Strings with the North York Moors Festival, Elijah at Birmingham Town Hall with the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, and the title role in Saint Nicolas (Britten) with the New Elizabethan Singers.

Beginning his studies as both an actor and singer at Northwestern University, Mr. Schmitz continued on at the Manhattan School of Music.  Ted furthered his work and training in the Young Artist Programs of Central City Opera, the Britten-Pears Programme, Opera Theatre of St Louis as well as Seattle Opera.

audio/video

click on an image below to hear a clip


  • Ted Schmitz, Death in Venice, Opera de Bellas Artes 
  • Ted Schmitz, in garage 
  • Ted Schmitz, in garage 
  • Ted Schmitz, Death in Venice, Opera de Bellas Artes 

repertoire


Beethoven

Jaquino, Fidelio

Bernstein

Candide, Achmet, Crook, Grand Inquisitor; Candide

Bizet

Remendado, Carmen

Britten

Albert, Albert Herring

Madwoman, Curlew River

Aschenbach, Death in Venice

Grimes, Bob Boles, Rev Adams; Peter Grimes

Prologue, Peter Quint; The Turn of the Screw

Humperdinck

Hexe, Hänsel and Gretel

Janáček

Kudrjaš, Káťa Kabanová

Laca, Jenůfa

Monteverdi

Orfeo, L’Orfeo

Telemaco, Il Ritorno dUlisse in patria

Lucano, Lincoronazione di Poppea

Mozart

Pedrillo, Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Bastien, Bastien und Bastienne

Ferrando, Cosi fan tutté

Don Basilio, Don Curzio; Le Nozze di Figaro

Tamino, Monastatos; Die Zauberflöte

Offenbach

Frantz, Les Contes d’Hoffman

Frick, The Brazilian; La Vie Parisienne

Puccini

Pong/Pang, Turandot

Reimann

Johansson, Die Gespenstersonate

Sondheim

Pirelli, Sweeney Todd

Henrik, A Little Night Music

Sullivan

Nanki-Poo, The Mikado

Mars, Thespis

Fredrick, The Pirates of Penzance

Defendant, Trial by Jury

R. Strauss

Der Wirt, Haushofmeisters; Der Rosenkavalier

Verdi

Fenton, Dr. Caius; Falstaff

Wagner

David, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg


gallery

a few favourite publicity and production photos

(photo credits below gallery)
Ted Schmitz between two buildings
  • Ted Schmitz in Die Stunde da wir zu viel von einander wussten
  • Ted Schmitz as Aschenbach in Death in Venice
  • Ted Schmitz as Don Basilio, Le Nozze di Figaro, Seattle Opera
  • Ted Schmitz in La Petite Messe Solonelle






Photo Credits and Information 

PHOTO 1: description: on the big screen, orange coat
from Lost in Loops, Konzerthaus Berlin
Nico and the Navigators
photo by: Falk Wenzel

PHOTO 2: description: between two buildings
photo by Andy Staples

PHOTO 3: description: with girl in green coat crying
from Die Stunde da wir zu viel von einander wussten
Nico and the Navigators
with Yui Kawaguchi, photo by: Dieter Hartwig

PHOTO 4: description: clutching chest
from Le Nozze di Figaro
Seattle Opera
photo by: Rozarii Lynch

PHOTO 5: description: in boat
from Death in Venice
Opera de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
photo by José Brancho

PHOTO 6: description: pulling a suspender
from La Petite Messe Solenelle,
Nico and the Navigators
with Ulrike Mayer, photo by Maik Schuck

Publicity photos on Landing page, Biography, and contact sections all by Andy Staples

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    Ted Schmitz paints his name on a wall