Peter Schmidl was born in Olomouc, Moravia in 1941 and grew up in a family whose musical roots extended back to the days of Gustav Mahler. His father and grandfather had been first clarinettists of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.

One of the foremost professional goals of many Leonard Bernstein Department students is obtaining a full-time post in a renowned orchestra. In the interest of improving their chances of auditioning successfully, the Bernstein Department and the Rectorate agreed back in March 2019 to establish orchestral master classes. The idea was to afford ambitious students an additional opportunity to engage in personal exchange with colleagues from the respective orchestras before actually auditioning.