Swiss conductor and violinist Simon Schmied – Music Director of the Bern Student Orchestra (BESTO) and conducting participant of the Concours de Genève 2025-26 – is devoted to shaping the next generation, with recent work alongside Sir Mark Elder and Jaap van Zweden.

Simon Schmied (*1995, Biel/Bienne) is a dynamic Swiss conductor and violinist. A graduate in violin and conducting from Basel and Lucerne, he has served since 2020 as Music Director of the Bern Student Orchestra (BESTO), dedicated to guiding young musicians while building a growing international profile.

Upcoming projects in the 2025/26 season include concerts with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre des Jeunes de Fribourg, as well as participation in the Concours de Genève. In 2024 he served as Assistant Conductor to Sir Mark Elder at the Gstaad Festival Orchestra for Tristan und Isolde and has also worked with Jaap van Zweden as participant of the Gstaad Conducting Academy. He currently continues his conducting studies with Nicolás Pasquet, Jordi Francés, and Miguel Ángel Cañamero at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. An active violinist, he has performed with Camerata Switzerland, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, and has taught at the Conservatory of Fribourg since 2020.