FOREST CITY – Professor and pianist, Dr. Timothy Schmidt, and his daughter, soprano Marie Sophia Schmidt, will be performing March 8 in Waldorf College’s Odvin-Hagen Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Schmidt became an instructor at Waldorf College in 1972. Even after his retirement in 2005, due to being diagnosed as legally blind, Dr. Schmidt continues to work with students on campus. Dr. Schmidt does not let his visual disability stop him from doing what he loves. “No matter what barriers, we can all do more than we think we can. We must be willing to step up and take the risk,” he said.
The theme of Dr. Schmidt’s concert is “memories.” He and his daughter will perform pieces featured on their tour throughout the southwest United States and New York Catskill Mountains. Dr. Schmidt’s final piece, Polonaise in A flat major, Op.53, was the song that made him realize he wanted to be a concert pianist – even though he was six years old that the time.
Marie Sophia Schmidt, a Waldorf College graduate, has been a featured soprano in a number of touring productions in the Midwest and abroad at the American Cathedral in Paris, France. She is also very involved with the Des Moines Community Playhouse.
Dr. Schmidt felt blessed to be able to have been his own daughter’s professor in college, even more to be able to perform professionally together. Dr. Schmidt and Marie Sophia invite to community to come together to celebrate the blessing with them. “Music and the fine arts are a part of who we are. To celebrate the arts is to celebrate who we are as a culture and as human beings,” Dr. Schmidt said.
Dr. Joshua Thompson, Assistant Professor of Music, will also be featured on the Trumpet. Concert admission is free to the public.
