RTVE Symphony – Carlos Kalmar, Conductor – Benjamin Schmid, Violin – Roberto Diaz, Viola – Live broadcast – February 19, 2026 – Teatro Monumental, Madrid – RNE Radio Clasica –
Back over to Madrid this week for a live concert by the Sinfonica y Coro RTVE, conducted by Carlos Kalmar and featuring Bejamind Schmid, violin and Roberto Diaz, viola in music of Rossini, Penderecki and Rachmaninov. It was broadcast live from the Teatro Monumental in Madrid on February 19, 2016.
The concert starts with Rossini’s overture to Semiramide – and then the orchestra is joined by Benjamin Schmid and Roberto Diaz in a performance of the Concerto for Violin and Viola by Krzysztof Penderecki. The concert concludes with a performance of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances.
Benjamin Schmid is a popular violinist known for his chameleonic skills in performing both classical and jazz compositions. He has credited two major influences in the development of his career, one each in these two disparate worlds of music: violinists Yehudi Menuhin and Stéphane Grappelli. Schmid’s ability to perform both classical and jazz music effectively is all the more amazing considering his broad repertory in each genre: in classical music he plays works by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Paganini, Ysaÿe, Berg, Britten, and John Cage; on the other side his repertory includes music by Cole Porter, Gershwin, Kreisler, and many others, including contemporary composer Christian Muthspiel, whose concerto for electric violin Schmid has recorded.
Roberto Diaz held the position of principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and has been principal viola of the National Symphony under Mstislav Rostropovich, a member of the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, and a member of the Minnesota Orchestra under Neville Marriner. He is the violist in the Díaz Trio, which includes cellist Andrés Díaz (his brother) and violinist Andrés Cárdenes, former concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
And of course Carlos Kalmar, who we told you all about a few weeks ago when we ran another one of his concerts from Madrid.
Still, enjoy the concert.
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