Olivier Schmitt hails from Lorraine. While studying for a doctorate in music history and musicology at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, he began organ studies with Raphaële Garreau de Labarre at the Conservatoire in Thionville, then went on to work with Norbert Pétry (organ) and François Narboni (composition) at the Conservatoire National de Région in Metz, from which he graduated with five premiers prix.
Olivier Schmitt is the author of several compositions, and also articles on musicological issues. Following a commission from the Moselle DepartmentalCouncil (Conseil Général), he worked on cataloguing and digitising the works of the composer Théodore Gouvy, who spent much of his life in Lorraine, in Hombourg-Haut.
Olivier Schmitt is currently assistant director of the Centre Diocésain de Formation des Organistes in Metz, and organist of the church of Saint-Martin in Hayange with its Dalstein-Haerpfer organ (op. 100, 1894). He is also very interested in harmoniums (which he feels are all too often neglected in our churches) and in particular the harmonium de salon, the repertoire of which deserves to be revived.
