BIO

Award winning pianist,Gary Schmidt, grew up in rural French speaking Quebec, Canada.  At the age of six he declared to his parents that he would be a pianist when he grew up. That dream has certainly came true now having had a successful career in music for over 30 years. He taught himself to play on an old white piano (that had truly fallen off the truck) by listening to records and trying to follow the sheet music. His official studies included earning the highest level piano performance degree from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.  

Musical Mission

His initial career focused mostly on classical piano but for the past 10 years has moved to the more contemplative side of things. His life motto is “Enhancing Life Thru Music”. Gary's music focuses on the melodic and meditative, a unique blend of romanticism, classical, and minimalism. His live performances are always received to acclaim as performances that speak directly the heart.

Awards

His first album of original music “Landscapes of the Heart” in 2016 was produced by Grammy Award winning Will Ackerman of Windam Hill fame and went on to win album of the year awards for Piano with Instruments including one from One World Radio in Europe. 

His second album “Even for Moment” (2018) again earned two nominations for album of the year for 
Piano with Instruments. 

His Christmas Album “Christmas Meditations” has had several thousand streams on Sirius XM the past three years.

His latest album of original piano solos “Afterthoughts” released in 2023 remained at number new release on the Amazon Music for Relaxation Music for over a month.

In 2024, his song “Face That Lights My Face” was the 11th most streamed song (over 4000 songs in rotation) on solopianoradio.com (Whispering Piano)

GMA (Gospel Music Association) national song writing competition. Second place out of 800 submissions.

Boston-based Shannon Heaton specializes in Irish wooden flute and traditional Irish-style singing. She has been heralded as one of North America's finest traditional musicians (Massachusetts Cultural Council Traditional Arts Fellow 2016; IAN 2009 Female Musician of the Year; Live Ireland 2010 Female Artist of the Year). She is wildly creative teacher, and has published two flute/fiddle method books. Her latest, "First 50," is a collection of notated tunes with accompanying recordings. The book includes breathing marks for flute players and bowing for fiddle players, showing musicians how to play with minimal ornamentation and maximum rhythmic stability.

Singer/songwriter, voicover talent and recording engineer/producer

goatwhacker is following