Midori (violinist)

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Midori, 2013

Midori ( Japanese 五 嶋 み ど り Goto Midori; born October 25, 1971 in Moriguchi , Osaka Prefecture ) is a Japanese violinist.

Career

Midori was born in Japan in 1971 as the daughter of a violinist and an engineer. She started playing the violin at an early age, first under the guidance of her mother, Setsu Goto. She attended elementary school from 1978.

In 1981, Midori attended the summer course at the Aspen Music Festival, led by Dorothy DeLay . Her mother accompanied her during her stay in America and successfully tried DeLay to get her daughter admitted to New York's Juilliard School . In February 1982 both moved to New York, so that Midori could begin her preparatory studies with Dorothy DeLay in the Pre College Program of the Juilliard School in March. In parallel, Midori attended the private Professional Children's School, where she graduated from high school in 1991. However, she left the Juilliard School prematurely in 1987 after differences between her family and the school. In 1988, Midori's half-brother Ryu Goto was born.

In the spring of 1995, Midori began studying psychology and gender studies at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study ( New York University ). In 2000 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with the title "Magna cum laude", in 2005 she received a Master of Arts in psychology.

Career

On December 30, 1982, the eleven-year-old made her debut with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Zubin Mehta at Avery Fisher Hall in Manhattan . In Tanglewood , at the age of 14, she delighted audiences, critics and musicians when she played the fifth movement of Leonard Bernstein's self-conducted serenade on three different violins because of two broken electric strings. Midori soon developed into an international violin virtuoso, performing as a soloist with orchestras and recital gymnastics.

Driven by self-doubt and feelings of inferiority, she had also developed a striving for perfection, which in 1994 led to a breakdown. In five years of therapy with several hospital stays, she managed to overcome this crisis, which was characterized by depression and anorexia. Even during this time she repeatedly performed concert engagements, but for the first time allowed herself to be involved in chamber music making. However, according to her own assessment, it was above all the new challenges and successes during her studies at the Gallatin School that helped Midori regain stability and renewed confidence and ultimately pursue her career as a violinist.

In 2001 Midori was appointed violin teacher at the Manhattan School of Music . In 2004 she accepted a professorship for violin at the Jascha Heifetz Chair for Music at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California (USC) and has lived in Los Angeles ever since . Since 2018 she has been teaching violin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia , but continues to maintain contact with the USC and its students as a visiting artist .

Instruments

Midori's first 4/4 violin was the Guarneri del Gesù "ex-David" from 1735. It was loaned to her in September 1985 by Mary Galvin. Later she was able to purchase the instrument from Galvin. Around 1992 the Hayashibara family of entrepreneurs bought the Stradivarius "Jupiter" from 1722 for Midori , which later turned out to be less suitable for them. After two years, Midori only played "Jupiter" occasionally and finally gave it back.

Since around 2000 Midori has played the Guarneri del Gesù "ex-Huberman" from 1734, which the Hayashibara Foundation made available to her for life. She uses bows by Dominique Peccatte, François Peccatte and Paul Siefried.

engagement

In addition to her artistic career, the violinist has campaigned for support and education in the musical field by founding the organization "Midori & Friends", initially in the USA and Japan. She is dedicated to four outreach organizations she founded, which are supposed to give people, regardless of origin and age, access to music. In Japan, Midori founded the organization “Music Sharing”, which focuses on concerts and lessons for children and young people interested in classical and traditional Japanese music. The courses, which are offered in schools, hospitals and youth facilities, focus on collaboration and active participation of the audience.

In addition, Midori actively promotes the spread of chamber music in the USA with the non-profit organization “Partners in Performance”, which she founded in 2001 with her Avery Fisher Prize, so that concerts can also be organized in places outside the normal concert scene.

With the 2003/04 season, Midori began a new series of this kind: As part of her “University Residencies Program”, she visits various universities in the USA for five to ten days with artists she has invited. The first stop in this annual program was Chicago. The aim of the residencies is to strengthen the contact between artists, students, faculties and event organizers affiliated with the university.

In the Orchestra Residencies Program, Midori spends a week with a youth orchestra that has ties to a small professional orchestra. She performs with both orchestras and teaches the young musicians. In 2002 Midori worked with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in a two-week residency "On Location".

From 2002 onwards, the violinist realized the project “Total Experience” in various small towns in Japan with the aim of actively involving the audience in the concert. Midori's educational work thus extends to areas outside of her masterclasses for violin students, which she gives worldwide in addition to her regular teaching activities at the Manhattan School of Music and the University of Southern California. From 2006/07 onwards, like the violinist Vadim Repin , she has commissioned works from young composers, which she plays as encores in her recital.

Awards

Midori received the Avery Fisher Prize (2001) as well as Japan's highest artistic honor, the Crystal Award, or the Suntory Hall Award. In addition, her commitment to “Midori & Friends” was honored with the Spirit of the City Award from the City of New York, the National Arts Award and the Encore Award. In 2002, Musical America awarded Midori the title of “Best Instrumentalist of the Year”.

Works

  • Midori: Just Midori. Autobiography. Updated and expanded new edition. (Editing and translation: Susanne Van Volxem) Henschel Verlag, Leipzig 2012, ISBN 978-3-89487-721-7 .

Discography

  • Sonatas by Janáček, Bloch, Schostakowitsch (with Özgür Aydin , October 2013)
    • Janáček: Sonata for violin and piano
    • Bloch: Sonata No. 2 Poème mystique
    • Shostakovich: Sonata for violin and piano
  • Hindemith: Violin Concerto (Live CD with the NDR Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach , August 2013)
  • Mendelssohn & Bruch: Violin Concerts (Live CD with the Berliner Philharmoniker , September 2003)
    • Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 64
    • Bruch: Concerto No. 1 for violin and orchestra in G minor, op.26
  • Midori's 20th Anniversary Album (with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra), 2002
    • Wieniawski: Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor for violin and orchestra, op.14
    • Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin (arr.Arthur Hartmann)
    • Kreisler: La Gitana
    • Prokofiev: Tales of an Old Grandmother, op.31
    • Amy Beach: Romance for Violin and Piano, op.23
    • Poldini: The Dancing Doll (Arr. Fritz Kreisler)
    • Elgar: Chanson de nuit, op.15 No. 1
  • French Sonatas - Midori with Robert McDonald, Piano 2002 ( Prize of the German Record Critics 4th Quarter 2002)
    • Poulenc: Sonata for violin and piano
    • Debussy: Sonata in G minor for violin and piano
    • Saint-Saëns: Sonata No. 1 in D minor for violin and piano op.75
  • 2001 (with NDR Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach and Nobuko Imai on viola )
    • Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, KV 364 / 320d
    • Mozart: Concerto in D major KV Anh. 56 (315f)
  • 2000 (with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Claudio Abbado )
    • Tchaikovsky: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major op.35
    • Shostakovich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in A minor
  • Midori, violin, and Robert McDonald, piano, 1999
    • Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major
    • Elgar: Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor, Op. 82
  • Midori (with the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta )
    • Sibelius: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor op.47
    • Bruch: Scottish Fantasy op.46
  • Encore! with Robert McDonald, piano
  • (with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta)
    • Dvořák: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 53
    • Dvořák: Romance in F minor for violin and orchestra op.11
    • Dvořák: Carnival Overture, op.92
  • Midori: Live at Carnegie Hall (with Robert McDonald, piano)
  • (with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Zubin Mehta)
    • Bartók: Concerto No. 1 for violin and orchestra op. Posth.
    • Bartók: Concerto No. 2 for violin and orchestra
  • Midori plays Paganini: 24 Caprices for Solo Violin op. 1 (nominated for a Grammy in 1990)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 11.
  2. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 11.
  3. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 16 ff.
  4. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 24.
  5. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 29 ff.
  6. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 38.
  7. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 41.
  8. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 42 ff. The choice in favor of this private school, which is located close to the college, was made at DeLay's special request, despite financial worries and great privations.
  9. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 117 f.
  10. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 131 f.
  11. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, pp. 217 & 227
  12. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 297.
  13. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 65 ff.
  14. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 89 f.
  15. Girl 14, conquers Tanglewood with 3 violins The New York Times, July 28, 1986th
  16. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 295.
  17. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 142.
  18. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, pp. 186 ff & 208
  19. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 232.
  20. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 217.
  21. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 201 ff.
  22. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, pp. 220, 228 & 233 f
  23. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, pp. 267 ff, 277 & 297
  24. Midori Joins the Curtis Violin Faculty Beginning in the 2018-19 School Year press release from the Curtis Institute of Music, June 27, 2017.
  25. Biography on gotomidori.com, accessed March 30, 2019.
  26. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, pp. 83 ff & 139 f
  27. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 170 ff.
  28. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 237 f.
  29. Just Midori. Autobiography. 2012, p. 237 ff.
  30. Official Website gotomidori.com (biography). Retrieved November 30, 2016.