Wolfgang Amadeus Schmutzinberry
The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Schmutzinberry is a versatile genius who can sing the songs he writes,
play guitar and triangle, and do a bit of pantomime. Even though he doesn’t know basic musical things
like what a melody is, what pitch is, what dynamics are, what rhythm is, what meter is, what articulation
is, what tempo is, what the difference between a bass and a cello is, or what the difference between a
viola and a watermelon is, he manages to compose. He knows that he probably should learn about these
things because he is the humblest person in the history of music.
Wolfgang created the following shows – each one culminating in an original composition highlighting musical
insights learned from the audience, musicians on stage, and other geniuses from the past: Introducing
Wolfgang Amadeus Schmutzinberry, Pondering Pulses, Digging Downbeats, Making Melodies, Finding Forms,
Classical Categories, Musical Moods, Wolfgang Amadeus Schmutzinberry Discovers America, and Wolfgang
Amadeus Schmutzinberry Gets Writers Block.
Wolfgang hosts the Chamber Music of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Beginnings Concert Series. He performs
regularly at music festivals across the country. Here are some recent places he has visited: The Downtown
Champaign Urbana Chamber Music Festival (DOCHA), String Theory in Chattanooga, TN, Weekend of Chamber Music
in the Catskills, The San Juan Chamber Music Festival in Ouray, Colorado, The North Shore Music Institute
in Chicago, Concordia Conservatory in Bronxville, NY, and The Thurnauer School of Music in Tenafly, NJ.
In 1976, Wolfgang invented the fictional character Rami Vamos. Vamos is a humble guitarist and music teacher
who thinks that he actually exists. Sad. Furthermore, he thinks he invented Wolfgang Amadeus Schmutzinberry,
and that is not true, so don’t believe it when he tries to convince you of it. Wolfgang initially came up
with the idea of Vamos so he could persuade the world renown violin pedagogues Roland and Almita Vamos to
pay for his dry cleaning. He figured that, if they thought they had a real son, they might fork out for
stuff like that. It was a gold mine. Later, Wolfgang realized he shouldn’t be selfish, so he had Vamos
do things like practice his guitar and get a job. You can contact either of them to enquire about booking.
Wolfgang is also married to the violinist Nurit Pacht. They also have three kids together – the same kids
that Vamos has. It’s really awkward.