David Schmidt
David Schmidt worked on his Ph.D. in Music Education at the University of Utah after receiving a Master of Music degree in Vocal Pedagogy and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance.
David is an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) at the University of Utah, and head of the Vocal Area for the Department of Theatre. David is an active vocal pedagogy and music theory teacher (both privately and at the University of Utah), as well as a music and stage director. Prior to his appointment as faculty member with the University of Utah, he was an Adjunct Professor of voice for both the musical theater and classical voice programs at Weber State University.
David is the co-author of GottaSing, a 3-DVD set of instructional voice lessons, and the author of an 8-CD set of vocal instruction for the beginning singer produced by InAChord Productions. He has authored numerous articles about singing and the teaching of singing for many national magazines and web sites, and is frequently a lecturer for music conventions and symposiums. He is currently the State Governor for the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the past president of his local chapter of NATS and the Program Director for the 2010 NATS National Convention.
David is the co-founder and past Board President of the Salt Lake High School for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City’s first high school for talented performing artists. He is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Utah Light Opera Company.
David’s Opera and Operetta directing credits include Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail , Don Pasquale, at the St. Anton Arts festival St. Anton Austria; and Die Zaubeflote, Pirates of Penzance and The Gondoliers for Utah Light Opera. David has directed Once Upon a Mattress, Ave Q, Sweeney Todd, Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party and Songs for a New World (both Studio 115); and music directed Hair, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Rocky Horror Show (all Babcock Theatre) for the Department of Theatre.
David is also an avid performer and has played many roles in musical theater including Sister Hubert in Nunsense A-Men, Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, Rooster in Annie, Emcee, et al in Lucky Stiff, as well as parts in South Pacific, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Fiddler on the Roof. David’s opera roles include Papageno in The Magic Flute, Marco in Gianni Schicci, Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte as well as parts in The Bartered Bride, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Don Giovanni. Throughout the 1980′s David was involved in the Nashville music scene. He was a singer/dancer at Opryland and the Grand Ole Opry and a studio singer and performer at numerous convention venues.
