Erik Šmid

Conductor / Leader

Erik Šmid began to actively engage with classical music in his young age when he attended piano lessons in Prof. Peter Milić’s and classical singing in mag. Francka Šenk’s class. He continued his musical path by studying musical pedagogy at the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana, where he graduated in 2014, and in 2016 completed his master's degree with summa cum laude. As a conclusion of his education at the Academy, he conducted a master concert under Prof. Marko Vatovec’s mentorship, where he presented a sacral program of composers from 17. and 18. century together with the Chamber Choir of the Academy of Music, the Chamber Orchestra of the Academy of Music and various singing soloists. During his education he developed a true passion for the choir music – initially as a singer and an accompanist in various choir assemblies (Chamber choir Mysterium, Male choir of Salt Lake Choral Artists, Chamber Choir of the Academy of Music, The Coral Choir of the Academy of Music, Baroque choir of the Academy of Music, Choir of St. Nikolaj Litija, etc.), and for many years now as the conductor (female choir Mens Sonora, Student Choir of St. Stanislav, Youth choir of Gymnasium Kranj, Youth choir of the music school Kranj, Women's vocal group Lipa, male choir Cantores Carnioli, Maiden choir of the Gymnasium Kranj, Academic choir France Prešeren Kranj). His choirs have received the highest awards and prizes in Slovenian and foreign choir competitions. To name a few most recent ones, he received two gold awards with the Maiden choir of the Gymnasium Kranj at international competitions in Koper and Verona, a special Conductor Award (award for the most prospective young conductor of Aegis Carminis 2019 and award for the Best Conductor on the 30. International Competition in Verona 2019), and the gold award with the Grand Prix on the international competition Zlatna Lipa Tuhlja 2019, which he won with the male choir Cantores Carnioli. He continues to grow professionally and strives to expose listeners to the width of the choir music, to raise the level of choir singing in Slovenia and to give every listener a chance to feel the emotional and exhaled power that is carried by the individual musical piece.