Werner Heinrich Schmitt's pianistic and compositional work is documented by radio recordings on SWR and MDR, on CD with piano and chamber music works, including the SWR live recording of the world premiere of his concerto for piano and orchestra.

 

The State of Rhineland-Palatinate commissioned his first piano concerto in 2003. Werner himself was the soloist in the premiere of this composition along with the State Youth Orchestra of Rhineland-Palatinate, directed by Michael Luig. This performance was a highlight of his work as a pianist and composer.

 

To great acclaim, Werner performed his sonata for clarinet and piano with Alan Valotta at the 4th German Clarinet Symposium in Berlin in 2004. The work was published in 2005 by Verlag Müller & Gössl.

 

In June 2006, the world premiere of his "Lyrische Szene" for flute, string orchestra, harp, and vibraphone with the solo flutist of the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Pirmin Grehl, and the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester under the direction of Wolfram Christ, took place in the ballroom of the Hambach Palace.

 

In October 2006, the world-renowned mezzo-soprano, Anke Vondung, sang the world premiere of his four songs set to poems by Hermann Hesse in Dresden. The concert was recorded by the MDR.

 

In 2007 the Freiburg Ensemble Selisih performed the work, "H²O-2004," in Phnom Penh and other venues.

 

On behalf of the North Baden Wind Ensemble, Werner composed a fanfare in 2008 for the grand opening of the ensemble's concerts in 2009. As a result, he was entrusted with writing a composition premiered by approximately 2000 brass players as part of the 2011 State Trombone Day in Wertheim.

 

In November 2011, Anke Vondung sang the world premiere of the song cycle "Memoriae" in the Alte Aula Heidelberg, accompanied by Werner. This performance resulted in a nomination for the main prize of the Palatinate Prize in the music category in 2012.

 

In December 2011, Werner Heinrich Schmitt played the premiere of his "Aria" for piano and string orchestra to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis music school.

 

In January 2012, he played his arrangement of "Memoriae" for piano trio with Alissa and Natascha Margulis in the historical department store hall in Freiburg as part of a memorial concert for Vitaly Margulis. In May, the premiere of his arrangement of Debussy's "L'isle joyeuse" for saxophone, percussion, and piano, took place in the historical council chambers in Speyer. Werner also arranged Ravel's "Pavane" in December 2013 to be premiered in the Theater in Spitalhof in Leonberg for the same instrumentation.

 

The bass-baritone, Thomas Jesatko, who also works in Bayreuth, premiered the "Night Cycle," four songs based on poems by Karin Rosemarie Bleser, in March 2014 as part of the "Young Podium Altrip" concert series.

 

His "Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra "Hbf MA 19:27" was premiered in June 2015 by the Camerata Mannheim and Wolfgang Hammar, the concertmaster of the Mannheim National Theatre Orchestra. The Camerata Mannheim was founded especially for this occasion with its musicians from the Mannheim National Theatre Orchestra.

 

In April 2016, Werner Heinrich Schmitt accepted the honorable invitation of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow to the "IV. International Competition for Young Composers N. Myaskovsky" as a member of the jury. During his visit, he played a recital of his own works and held a master class for the winners of the competition at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

 

In October 2016, Werner Heinrich Schmitt played the 2nd movement of his piano concerto with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Zoe Zeniodi in a gala concert at the 2nd Asia-Europe New Music Festival in Hanoi, Vietnam.

 

On November 24, 2018, his orchestral work "The End of an Odyssey" premiered in the gala concert at the opening of the third annual Asia-Europe New Music Festival in the Hanoi Opera House. The Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra played under its chief conductor Honna Tesuji.

 

On August 31, 2019, Werner Heinrich Schmitt himself played the world premiere of his second concerto for piano and orchestra in the Sayner Hütte/Bendorf, followed by another successful performance on September 9, 2019, in the Festhalle Wörth. The young southwest German Philharmonie accompanied him exquisitely under Prof. Manuel Nawri.

 

Werner Heinrich Schmitt also likes to act as a juror at national competitions such as “Jugend musiziert” or the "Karel-Kunc competition" in Bad Dürkheim. At the "Jugend musiziert" competitions, Werner's students are regularly awarded prizes. One student has won over 30 prizes as a soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist in recent years: in 2011, a 3rd national award in the piano solo category and 2012 alone in the duo category and as an accompanist together with his partners eleven prizes, nine of them first prizes. In 2012, four of his students won a total of seventeen awards, including 13 first prizes.

 

Werner Heinrich Schmitt has been a full-time piano lecturer at the Mannheim University of Music since the spring semester of 2012. He has been looking after the next generation of musicians at the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis music school since 1986.