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Austrian clarinettist Peter Schmidl was born in Olomouc (now in Czechia) on 10 January 1941 into a family of musicians - his father and grandfather both played first clarinet with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied piano from the age of six and then clarinet with Rudolf Jettel - first clarinet with the Vienna Philharmonic - in Vienna at the University of Music and Performing Arts. He also studied acting and directing.
He joined the Vienna State Opera Orchestra in 1965 and from 1968 was first solo clarinettist with both this orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. He was also managing director of the Vienna Philharmonic from 2001 until 2005. In 2006 he was appointed doyen of the Vienna State Opera. During his career he also played with the MDR Orchestra, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra and the Tokyo New Philharmonia.
As well as working as an orchestral musician, he worked internationally as a soloist, collaborating with, for example, Karl Böhm, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Herbert von Karajan, Yehudi Menuhin, Riccardo Muti, André Previn, Seiji Ozawa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sándor Végh, the Vienna Octet and the Vienna Wind Soloists.
He also made a series of recordings, including the Brahms Clarinet Trio in 1982 on Decca with cellist Friedrich Dolezal and pianist András Schiff, and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in 1987 on Deutsche Grammophon, with Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic.
From 1967 he taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, and from 1999 he was artistic chairman of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.
Peter Schmidl retired in October 2010 and died on 1 February 2025, aged eighty-four.