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 2021/2022 season, Mr. Schmitz will sing DON BASILIO and DON CURZIO in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro with Volkstheater Rostock. He also returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to cover REVEREND ADAMS in Peter Grimes. Ted will also perform and devise three new works with Nico and the Navigators, the international performance ensemble based in Berlin.  First, a film version for ARTE of the all-Beethoven staged work with the Kuss Quartet entitled Force and Freedom, second is Empathy for the Devil, a staged concert premiering at Berlin Radialsystem, and third, The Wasted Land, a staged concert also premiering at Berlin Radialsystem with a planned US tour.

Recent engagements include REVERAND ADAMS in Peter Grimes at Palau de les Arts, Valencia; ACHANTE in the American premiere of Rameau’s Sympathy with Victory Hall Opera; cover the role of TAPIOCA L’Étoile, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the role of the WITCH OF ENDOR in Händel’s Saul for the Glyndebourne Festival. DER WIRT and both HAUSHOFMEISTER in Der Rosenkavalier with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the baton of 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, multiple roles of ACHMET, CROOK, and THE GRAND INQUISITOR in Bernstein’s Candide with MDR Orchestra in Leipzig,

As a regular with Nico and the Navigators, Mr. Schmitz continues to perform in four other productions: 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 Berlin, and Opera 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.