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Edson Scheid playing Partita No. 1 during “The Complete J.S. Bach for Solo Violin” at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York. Photo credit: Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

B I O G R A P H Y

Edson Scheid has been praised for his “polished playing” (The Strad), and for being a "virtuoso violinist" (The Boston Globe). His performance of Strauss’s song Morgen at Carnegie Hall alongside Joyce DiDonato and Il Pomo d'Oro was described as follows: “The concertmaster, Edson Scheid, proved a worthy foil as violin soloist” (The New York Times).
 

A native of Brazil, Edson Scheid is based in New York City, where he plays with some of the city’s leading ensembles, including the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, American Classical Orchestra, Musica Sacra New York, The Clarion Orchestra and New York Classical Players. He frequently performs throughout the United States, on both modern and period instruments, and in Europe, Asia, North and South America with such ensembles as Il Pomo d’Oro and Les Arts Florissants.

As concertmaster, Edson Scheid has led performances with Seraphic Fire, Washington Bach Consort, Il Pomo d'oro, Music Sacra New York, Juilliard415, The Clarion Orchestra, and Teatro Nuovo, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Cullen Theater at Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Sala São Paulo, Harris Hall in Chicago, the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.
 

Edson Scheid’s many performances of Paganini’s 24 Caprices, on both period and modern violins, have been received with enthusiasm around the world. He has been featured live in-studio on In Tune from BBC Radio 3 and his recording of the Caprices on the baroque violin for the Naxos label has been critically acclaimed: “Far from being mere virtuoso stunts, Scheid’s Caprices abound in the beauty and revolutionary spirit of these works...” (Fanfare Magazine).
 

His second solo album, “On Paganini’s Trail… H. W. Ernst and more”, has been released under the Centaur Label – the first recording ever of this repertoire on a period violin. New York Concert Review writes that "Mr. Scheid is a superb violinist and a musician who can handle the fiendish challenges of this repertoire while finding the music in it.", and Early Music America praises Edson Scheid for​ taking "his time through these works, letting them breathe without losing sight of execution or musicality..."

Edson Scheid has given masterclasses as a guest artist at the University of California Santa Barbara and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has led a program with students of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Joyce DiDonato, and offered a presentation on performing Paganini Caprices as part of the Benedetti Foundation's Baroque Virtual Sessions. Since 2020 Edson Scheid is member of the Il Pomo d'Oro Academy, offering masterclasses on period instruments.
 

Edson Scheid holds degrees from the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, the Yale School of Music and The Juilliard School, where he was the recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. He is a two-time winner of the Historical Performance Concerto Competition at Juilliard, and a recipient of the Broadus Erle Prize at Yale.

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