For Nathaniel Schmidt, listening to music was never enough.
Childhood piano lessons would crescendo into composition, concerts, and a decade of professional session work.
But with legal training and a passion for public interest law, Schmidt’s goals would lead him to an audition unlike any other — a political bid in one of Canada’s fastest growing cities.
Schmidt was first introduced to the piano by his mother, who taught his earliest lessons at home. It was a skill Schmidt would enthusiastically pursue into high school.
There, he was soon immersed in a wide range of influences.
“Radiohead, and OK Computer, was the big alternative thing. So that got me interested in different types of music,” said Schmidt in an interview with the Calgary Journal.
He learned trumpet and French horn, and used his grade 11 and 12 spares to teach himself drums — a skill that other bands would seek out.
When it came time to pursue his post-secondary education, a music degree from the University of Lethbridge was the natural move.
He completed it in 2008, and he moved to Calgary to find work shortly after.
Music and the public sphere
The piano lessons would return, this time with Schmidt as the instructor, and he joined Cantos Music Centre — later the National Music Centre (NMC).
He was a board member of several smaller organizations and gigged as a session musician.
“But I always had to do side jobs as well,” said Schmidt.
These ranged from a 4:30 a.m. Starbucks shift to municipal census work.
As for many musicians, finding time and money for personal projects was difficult.
Still, he spearheaded a semi-improvisational quartet performance at Festival Hall, one featuring his former NMC colleague, percussionist Chris Dadge.
“In a perfect world, you’d always want to do something like this,” said Dadge. “But it does take someone to sort of grab the bull by the horns, so to speak, and push things along a little bit.”
To support the project, Schmidt reached out to Calgary Arts Development authorities.
The performance attracted a surprising turnout, and he gained experience utilizing Calgary grants in a way that provided a unique experience for the city.
But Schmidt’s goals had already been shifting.
“I started to notice and feel that I wasn’t, you know, going full on for music anymore,” he said.
By 2016, he had begun pursuing public interest law, motivated by what a legal education could bring to his advocacy ambitions.
His decision was finalized when he was accepted into the University of Calgary’s law program in 2018.
“Then I just went fully down that route,” said Schmidt.
By his first summer at the university, he was working in the poverty law clinic. He graduated in 2021 and then qualified to become a full-time criminal duty counsel lawyer.
Schmidt would sometimes see up to 40 clients a day — many of them young and from vulnerable backgrounds — and run into the night just to get them onto the next step.
“You learn how to listen to people that are, you know, perhaps not having an easy time in life. And how to manage the issues that they’re facing while still being able to understand where they’re coming from, that type of listening skill,” Schmidt said.
Other skills followed — including complex problem-solving, an understanding of regulatory systems, and negotiation with the Crown.
In January, 2025, Schmidt would open his sole practitioner defence law practice.
Outside of the courtroom
An interest in birdwatching helped him stay connected with the natural spaces that had captivated him since childhood.
Schmidt grew up in Courtenay, B.C., a small Vancouver Island city built on resource extraction. Although his elementary school classes discussed the environment, he was already aware of what could be lost in the clear-cutting that scarred the mountainsides visible from his home.
“And so I saw the value of the natural world, and wanted to do my part to try to protect it.”
nATHANIEL SCHMIDT
In Calgary, he found that challenge at Ricardo Ranch, a fragile Bow River ecosystem slated for development. Schmidt took a leadership position in the conservation efforts, representing a coalition of environmental groups and becoming a city hall regular during the hearings.
Lindsey Wallace, coordinator at the Alberta Wilderness Association, worked with Schmidt to run group “field trips” of the site, pointing out threatened swallow and heron nests to concerned Calgarians. One public day attracted 70 people.
“Just to be able to stand sort of on the ground, in the place, on the land with people and kind of connect to that place is really powerful,“ said Wallace.
By the mid-2020s, Schmidt’s social circle had been closely following city councillor activity, including who was up for re-election and who was interested in running.
“And sometimes, I joke I drew the short straw,” said Schmidt.
He announced his intention to campaign for Calgary’s Ward 8 in the spring of 2025. Running on the principles of “future focused” and “make politics boring again,” he tuned voters into the value of community-first policy.
It worked, and he even broke through highly charged issues like the rezoning repeal.
He was sworn in on Oct. 21, 2025.
On city council
Since then, however, Schmidt’s tenure has been anything but boring.
Within three months, Calgary would face a second major water crisis in two years, stemming from aging infrastructure.
Ward 8, one of Calgary’s oldest areas, would demand extra attention.
“We say we’ve learned not to jinx ourselves, but look at the calendar for the upcoming week and think, ‘Oh, we’re going to have a normal week.’ And then ultimately, it is not a normal week at all.”
But Schmidt believes the ensemble is more than the sum of its parts.
“I always try to remember that this is not my position to hold. It’s a position that I was given by people in my community, with their help as well. And that’s really how I try to approach the job.”