Bettina Schmitt is of German descent, grew up in Italy and has lived in Vienna since 1985. From 1980 to 1985 she studied classical violin at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, at the University of Music and Performing Arts (mdw) in Vienna, under Professor Michael Frischenschlager from 1985 to 1991, and in 1991 at the Aspen Summer Festival, Austria, under Professor Dorothy Delay. From 1998 to 2004 she studied conducting at the mdw and in numerous masterclasses.

Since 1984 she has performed extensively both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, with concerts in Austria, Italy and Germany. Between 1999 and 2000 she gave numerous solo recitals and masterclasses in Japan and Korea.

She has had many years of experience working with Austrian youth and student orchestras: she has taught at summer schools in Lilienfeld (1994-2005), directed the Tulln Music School’s Youth Symphony Orchestra (2006-2022), and spearheaded the 2008 Lower Austria Music Schools Orchestra Festival. Bettina Schmitt joined the mdw music faculty in 1992, and from 2001 to 2025 went on to establish her own violin degree programme. Many of her students have been awarded First Class Honours or are winners of the Austrian national music competition.

Since 2000 she has been Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Marchfeld Symphony Orchestra, with regular concerts in Austria and Slovakia, and tours to China and Japan. Since 2025 conductor of the „OBH strings“ in Eisenstadt (Burgenland, Austria).

She has also conducted the Gwangju Women‘s Chamber Orchestra (South Korea), the Bohuslav Martinu Symphony Orchestra (Zlín, Czech Republic), the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra (Czech Republic), the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra (Ostrava, Czech Republic), the Slovakian State Opera Orchestra, (Kosice), the South Bohemian Philharmonic Orchestra (Budweis, Czech Republic), the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra (Herne, Germany), the Johann Strauss Orchestra (Coburg, Germany) and the Opera Orchestra at Liberec (Czech Republic).

Her repertoire ranges from baroque to modern, and across chamber music, symphonic pieces, and operas and operettas with vocalists from the Vienna State Opera and the Volksoper, Vienna. Since 2007 she has worked as Artistic Director of the Festschloss-Hof subscription concerts in Marchfeld, which feature numerous chamber music performances.

In 2009, the Marchfeld Philharmonic Orchestra was awarded the Lower Austria Culture Prize for outstanding artistic achievement.