Violinist Rachel Schmidt completed her musical studies with Valery Klimov at the Hochschule für Musik in Saarbrücken and with Thomas Brandis at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. The winner of numerous competitions, she received further encouragement as a scholar at the Villa Musica of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and in master courses given by Ruggiero Ricci, Ida Haendel and Isaac Stern. Rachel Schmidt joined the Berlin Philharmonic in 2001 and became a member of the Scharoun Ensemble in 2010.