Jessica Schmitz

Described as “graceful and athletic” by the New York Times and an “intrepid entrepreneurial player” by New York Magazine, Jessica Schmitz has collaborated internationally across a wide spectrum of musical arts as a flutist, curator, producer, and educator.

Uniquely dedicated to the creation and future of contemporary music, Jessica leads a multi-faceted career embracing the new 21st century paradigm of the Renaissance artist. Jessica’s main goal in working in the arts is to bring contemporary music to international audiences in ways never before experienced—whether it be by performing and commissioning new works, or teaching new and young audiences about the music of today.

As a performer, Jessica is Co-Director and piccoloist of Asphalt Orchestra, a NYC-based street band hailed by the New York Times as a “coolly brilliant band on crack.”  In her work with Asphalt Orchestra, Jessica creates and performs work reaching a broad, mobile audience: recent collaborations include those with Yoko Ono, David Byrne, TED, VH1 Save the Music, Stew & Heidi Rodewald, Goran Bregovic, Annie Clark, and Lincoln Center. Jessica also performs as a soloist and chamber musician with the Bang on a Can All-Stars (recently recording for Rock Band videogame), Alarm Will Sound, Signal Ensemble, Wordless Music, Sequitur, and SO Percussion at venues including Carnegie Hall, The Barbican, Lincoln Center, and Ojai Music Festival.  As a winner of the Artists International Competition, Jessica gave her New York debut recital at Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall in spring of 2007.  She has also won the Chicago Flute Competition, Cincinnati Symposium Competition, Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition, and the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Competition.

As an active curator and producer, Jessica has collaborated with several international organizations to bring experimental music to the masses.  In this capacity, she has worked with Warsaw Autumn, Wordless Music, Lincoln Center, MATA, Juilliard, Polish Cultural Institute, Goethe Institute, Unsound Festival, New York University, Chelsea Art Museum, The Drawing Center, The Tank, Electronic Music Foundation, and the Romanian Cultural Institute.

Jessica is a summa cum laude graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and New York University.  Equally at home in the classroom, she has taught group and private lessons at New York University, Manhattan School of Music’s Educational Outreach department, and Illinois’ The Children’s House, and has maintained a private studio since 1999.

Dedicated to community outreach, Jessica is an adoptions volunteer with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), a fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Association, and was a September 11th respite volunteer with the Red Cross and Salvation Army.