Michael Schnitzler (born August 7, 1944, in Berkeley, California) is an Austrian American ecologist and musician.
[1] Michael Schnitzler was born to Austrian parents, Heinrich (1902–1982) and Lilly Schnitzler (born 1911), née Strakosch-Feldringen, the daughter of the sugar industrialist Siegfried Strakosch, who fled from the country after the Anschluss in 1938.
From 1982 to 2006 he was professor of violin at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.
Since 1968, he has been violinist of the Haydn Trio Wien (together with pianist Heinz Medjimorec and cellist Walther Schulz), playing over 1500 concerts and recording a substantial part of the piano trio literature.
Michael Schnitzler founded the NGO Rainforest of the Austrians[5] with the purpose of collecting funds to buy land within the Esquinas forest, Costa Rica.