A J Schmidt, flute with Matthew Klumpp, piano
Daniel Muller and Xuelai Wu, saxophone and piano duo
AJ Schmidt emerged as an extraordinary flutist while still in high school—as a four year member of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, a guest musician on the Three Rivers Young People’s Orchestra tour to Germany and the Czech Republic, and as a participant in the National Flute Association’s high school flute choir. He has numerous experiences with chamber flute ensembles, including his own, with performances at the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention, the PMEA All-State Conference, and the National Flute Association convention.
AJ earned the piccolo seat for the 2023-2024 PMEA All State Band. Additionally, he has won the Flute Society of Washington Honors Competition, the Woodbridge Flute Choir Concerto Competition, and the Central Ohio Flute Association Junior Division in 2022 and the Senior Division in 2024.
No stranger to the Pittsburgh Concert Society audiences, AJ has won in the PCS Young Artist competition on flute, again on piccolo, then as a member of a small ensemble, and now as a Major Artist in 2026.
In his earlier years, AJ studied under Dan Parasky, and has worked in depth with Austin Brown, Megan Ensor, and Kelly Zimba Lukić. He is currently a student at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studies with Marianne Gedigian.
Matthew Klumpp is an accomplished pianist whose performances span both classical music and jazz. Matthew has performed with the Westmoreland Symphony, the Joan Chambers Concert Series at the University of Pittsburgh/Greensburg, and as collaborative pianist with the studios of flutists Dan Parasky and Sarah Steranka, the Newlonsburg Music Academy, and the Pittsburgh Flute Academy. He also teaches music
at University of Pittsburgh, Greensburg.
Matthew began his career as a collaborative pianist at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he studied piano, composition,
and jazz. Matt received a Masters of Music with an Emphasis in Collaborative Piano from Duquesne University, where he studied classical piano with David Allen Wehr and Yeeha Chiu, and jazz piano with Ronald Bickel.
Matthew has extensive credits in the jazz genre as well, including
performances with the late trombonist Harold Betters, the vocalist Sam Brooks and the guitarist Drew Bentley. Matthew recently became a member of the band Protégé, produced by Studio E Entertainment. Through Studio E Entertainment Matt has given performances with Gary Racan, former lead singer of The Vogues.
Daniel Muller is a saxophonist and private music teacher in the Pittsburgh area. He has been soloist with the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble and a quarterfinalist in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Since 2018, he has presented research on Jewish composers who lived during the Holocaust in various lectures, panels, and recitals for the North American Saxophone Alliance, the Carnegie Mellon Opera, and the Navy Band Saxophone Symposium. He regularly leads studies on this and various other musical and historical topics for the Osher Institute for Lifelong learning.
A graduate of Baldwin Wallace, Duquesne, and Carnegie Mellon Universities, Muller’s teachers have included James Houlik, Mike Tomaro, Keith Young, and Greg Banaszak. He is currently pursuing art and video game design at the Community College of Allegheny County. His various hobbies include learning foreign languages, international cuisine, and birdwatching.
Xuelai Wu has performed throughout the United States, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Mainland China. Recent performances include recitals with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and gala performances with principal artists of Arizona Opera. She had the honor of working with internationally acclaimed tenor Augusto Paglialunga on multiple performances of Schubert’a Winterreise. She has participated in masterclasses with distinguished artists including Lynn Harrell, Sarah Chang, Warren Jones, Hartmut Höll, Joseph Kalichstein, Anton Nel, and others.
Wu has served as collaborative pianist for many prestigious music organizations, including Interlochen Arts Camp and Meadowmount School of Music. She was a teaching artist for Arizona Opera’s outreach program, Operatunity, from 2018 to 2019, introducing opera to K–5 students in the Phoenix area. She toured internationally with the grammy Award-winning Phoenix Boys Choir.
Born in Guangzhou, China, Wu grew up in a musical family and began piano studies at the age of three. She received her bachelor’s degree in music from South China Normal University and earned collaborative piano degrees from Beijing Central Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2017, she received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University.
When she is not performing on stage, Wu also pursues a parallel career in the financial sector, bringing an interdisciplinary perspective to leadership, communication, and collaboration across both artistic and corporate environments.
