London-based violinist Jan Schmolck enjoys an immensely successful and versatile career as orchestral leader and section principal, also being much in demand as soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue.
Orchestra Leader
Jan has on numerous occasions been invited to lead the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House where he already holds the position of Section Principal Violinist of the Second Violins, the most recent productions being Beethoven’s Fidelio conducted by Music Director Antonio Pappano, as well as Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Jan has also recorded Swan Lake with its famous violin solos for NHK, Japan
He is also Concertmaster of the Orchestra of St John’s and and has guest-lead many other orchestras, including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Paris Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Musikkollegium Winterthur in Switzerland as well as the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
Soloist
In particular in the role of concertmaster of Orchestra of St John's, solo performances by Jan have included the complete Bach concertos, with a number of performances of Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 with renowned flautist James Galway, Vivaldi Four Seasons as well as the Four Seasons by Astor Piazzolla, Vaughan Williams ‘Lark Ascending’, Mozart Concerto No. 5 and Sinfonia Concertante, and the Concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bruch and Brahms.
Jan has also recorded the Vivaldi and Piazzolla Seasons with OSJ for the OSJ Alive Label. Jan has recorded for many American networks, Bavarian Radio, Hessische Rundfunk, Süd-West Rundfunk, Swiss Radio as well as making numerous CD recordings for the Chandos, Blackbox/ASV, Sanctuary and Guild labels.
Chamber Musician & Collaborator
Jan has performed with many distinguished ensembles such as the Academy of St Martins in the Fields Chamber Ensemble of which he was a long standing member and the Angell Trio of which he was a founding member. Jan has also appeared with the Razumovsky Ensemble as well as having had a long standing association with the Schubert Ensemble of London with whom he has undertaken a number of recordings.
Jan has collaborated with celebrated musicians such as singers Matthew Rose and Ian Bostridge, violinists Kolja Blacher and Anthony Marwood, clarinettists Mark Simpson and Jörg Widmann, as well as the Music Director of the Royal Opera House, Sir Antonio Pappano. Jan has been active in the performance of contemporary chamber music by composers such as Jörg Widmann, who composed his Passacaglia for the Angell Trio, as well as Wolfgang Rihm and James MacMillan, whose Fourteen Little Pictures was given its US premiere by the Angell Trio at the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York. The New York Times said of the premiere “it would be hard to imagine a more powerful performance”.
Educator
Jan is a member of the teaching faculty at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London and also regularly gives performance and orchestral training classes at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was made an Associate in 2011.