What's Next?

Grammy® Award-winner Jan Karlin is a musician, producer, educator, and cultural entrepreneur. Her book "What's Next? Creativity in the Age of Entertainment" won a 2020 Book Excellence Award and 2019 Readers' Favorite International Book Award. She is the founding executive director of the L.A. International New Music Festival, Summer Festival at The Huntington, and Southwest Chamber Music, an ensemble based in southern California. Ms. Karlin has been recognized by the James Irvine Foundation as one of the leading nonprofit executive directors in California. As a violist, she has performed on international stages in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and Asia, including the Musikverein in Vienna, the Hanoi Opera House, UNAM in Mexico City, and REDCAT at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Ms. Karlin produced the largest cultural exchange and music festival in history between the United States and Vietnam in 2010, supported by the U.S. Department of State. The exchange and festival were covered in the international press, including the Los Angeles Times, Wall St. Journal Asia, Vietnam News, CNN International and Harvard Business Review. Ms. Karlin and her husband, conductor Jeff von der Schmidt, serve as the first American artistic advisors to Vietnam. She has also produced and performed on over thirty compact disc recordings, resulting in nine Grammy nominations and two Awards. Ms. Karlin produced three years of radio broadcasts throughout California that featured concerts and interviews with leading composers and international performers. She has lectured in the U.S. and abroad, and taught at Pomona College at Claremont University. Ms. Karlin received her B.A. from Tufts University and M.A. from Boston University. She and her husband enjoy travel, cooking, and visiting friends and family around the globe.