Gwendolyn Schmidt (www.gwenix.com, @gwenix on Twitter) is a dramatic soprano by night, computer wrangler by day.
Gwen started out in Pittsburgh’s Classical Music scene when she was just a child performing as with the Children’s Festival Chorus (CFC). Her claim to fame there is having sung with both Billy Porter and Shirley Jones at the same time! (OK, they were the stars, she was a mere chorister.) But there was also some work with the Pittsburgh Opera and Robert Page in those years.
More recently, she has worked with Undercroft Opera, where she has been seen as Nirena in Guilio Cesare, and covering roles such as Berta in l Barbiere di Siviglia, and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, and also with the Pittsburgh Savoyards as Mrs. Partlett in The Sorcerer, Queen of the Fairies in Iolanthe, Kate in Pirates of Penzance, Lady Jane in Patience, and The Baroness in The Grand Duke. She has also been a regular in choirs such as the Renaissance City Choir of Pittsburgh, and East Liberty Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir (also in Pittsburgh). Most recently, she has moved to Philadelphia for her primary day job, and is still getting her feet wet in that city; but will be seen in the upcoming Ruddigore with The Savoy Theater.
Gwen was also part of the libretto team bringing Dracula to Don Giovanni for Undercroft Opera, and has served on the board of Undercroft Opera as the Executive Secretary, and on the Pittsburgh Savoyards board.
By day, Gwen applies her Computer Science degree to making magic happen with computers. She puts some of that knowledge to work for the Cryptic Canticles as the primary Web Mistress.
Cryptic Canticles 