Stefan Schmitz, born in Cologne in 1976, took his first guitar lessons from G.M. Schillings in Wesel. In 1997 he began his studies of classic Guitar at the "Franz Liszt Hochschule für Musik" in Weimar as a student of Prof. Rost and G. Reichenbach. After that he went on to study with Prof. J. Clerch at "Robert Schumann Hochschule für Musik " in Düsseldorf and Prof. C. Marchione. In his graduation concert at Maastricht for the master degree programm Stefan achieved the highest possible score of 10 points. He has won prizes in international competitions in Rome (I), Rust (A), Kutna-Hora (CZ), Sinaia (R), Esslingen, Templin, Koblenz, Gevelsberg and Weikersheim (GER). Furthermore he has attained special prizes for "best interpretation of a contemporary work" and "Young Talents Promotion Reward" by the City of Wesel. Schmitz published three CDs and one DVD. The CD "Hommage a Silivus Leopold Weiss" is a world premiere recording of two late Sonatas. Stefan Schmitz extensive concert activities in Europe resulted in invitations to the "Young Artists in Concert"-series in Rio de Janeiro and to concerts in Japan. Most recently, in december 2004 he took an assignment as teacher for classic guitar at "Musikschule Neu-Ulm" in southern Germany. In this short time his pupils got 16 first prizes in national and international guitar competitions.