Midori – artiste étoile at the Lucerne Festival (August 2014)

As “artiste étoile” of this year’s Lucerne Festival Midori will give the world premiere of a new work by composer-in-residence Johannes Maria Staud, perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and undertake a performance of the complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach on two consecutive days.

22 August, Luzern, Franziskanerkirche
Bach: Sonata G minor BWV 1001
Bach: Sonate C major  BWV 1005
Bach: Partita D minorl BWV 1004

23 August, Luzern, Franziskanerkirche
Bach: Sonate A minor  BWV 1003
Bach: Partita B minor BWV 1002
Bach: Partita E major BWV 1006

25 August, Luzern, KKL Konzertsaal
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Daniele Gatti
Mendelssohn: Violin concerto

27 August, Luzern, KKL Konzertsaal
Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, James Gaffigan
Johannes Maria Staud: Oskar (Towards a Brighter Hue II)     World premiere

After the recital on 22 August, Midori will be guest at the Lucerne Festival Lounge at the Bourbaki and will meet the Festival’s Executive and Artistic Director Michael Haefliger on 26 August at 18.00 for an artist’s talk.

More information on Midori at the Lucerne Festival.

Midori performs at the United Nations (June 2014)

Midori, named a UN Messenger of Peace by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2007, visited United Nations headquarters on 3 June 2014. Her chief mission that day was to play a concert for UN dignitaries and staff members, to raise awareness of the important work of the Messengers of Peace program within the UN, and to extend the network of communication and cooperation from the program to other divisions of the organization.

Midori brought with her to the UN three young musicians – GaHyun Cho (violin), William Frampton (viola), and Michael Katz (cello) – who had traveled with her to Myanmar in December 2013 as part of the International Community Engagement Program (ICEP). They were met at the UN that morning by Jeffrey Brez and Jon Herbertsson, two executives of the UN’s Messenger of Peace division, and were escorted to the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, where they played string quartet music (excerpts) for the assembled dignitaries.

Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, welcomed Midori and the other quartet members and introduced Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who explained the crucial importance of the Messengers of Peace program and expressed his appreciation for Midori’s ongoing commitment to the UN and to her community engagement work worldwide. Midori thanked Secretary-General Ban, spoke of their shared belief in the advancement of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, and introduced the music from the stage. The quartet performed a brief concert.

Next Midori was ushered to the UN’s onsite television studio, where she made two public service announcements – each shot in both English and Japanese – to be used by the UN in multiple contexts at conferences, summits, in social media, and for public broadcast. The first of these “PSAs” was in behalf of the UN’s Every Woman Every Child program, which works to prevent maternal and infant illness and death worldwide. The second PSA was made for UN Women, a division of the UN devoted to abolishing violence against women and girls.

Midori then met with Mr. Brez and Megan Gemmell, Advocacy and Communications Officer of Every Woman Every Child, and Nanette Braun, Chief of Communications and Advocacy for UN Women, to strategize their efforts going forward.

Midori plays Eötvös in New York (May 2014)

Grammy for Hindemith recording with Midori (January 2014)

The NDR Sinfonieorchester under Christoph Eschenbach were awarded a Grammy Award 2014 in the category “Best Classical Compendium” for their recording of Hindemith’s Violin Concerto – with Violinist Midori as soloist –, the Symphonic Metamorphosis and Konzertmusik for brass and strings, Op. 50.

Midori comments: “I am delighted that Christoph Eschenbach and the NDR Symphony Orchestra invited me to play Hindemith’s Violin Concerto as part of their CD tribute to Paul Hindemith, and am very happy that last night this recording won the Grammy for Best Classical Compendium. Hindemith is one of the musicians I respect and admire the most. I hope our recording brings more awareness and appreciation of this great artist.”

The CD was published in August 2013 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Paul Hindemith’s death on the Ondine label.

Midori with ICEP in Myanmar (January 2014)

Midori and three young string players selected through auditions visited schools, hospitals and camps for internally displaced persons in Myanmar in December 2013 as part of the seventh annual International Community Engagement Program.

Midori is also a United Nations Messenger of Peace and there is a United Nations blog about the Myanmar visit which mentions that, “Midori’s International Community Engagement Program aims to bring classical music to disadvantaged communities, connect these communities and the musicians, and raise awareness about the challenges poorer regions face in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.”

The three young string players who joined Midori in the Myanmar ICEP quartet, Gahyon Chow (violin), William Frampton (viola) and Michael Katz (cello), blogged about their experience. You can read their blog here.

The Myanmar ICEP quartet will reunite in June 2014 for reporting events, community engagement activities and concerts in Japan.

PR² classic artists CDs nominated for major awards (December 2013)

Two PR² classic artists are nominated for a GRAMMY and an ICMA Award:

Leonidas Kavakos’ complete recording of Beethoven’s sonatas for Decca (piano: Enrico Pace) is nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Chamber Music category.
Also nominated for a GRAMMY is Midori‘s recording of Hindemith’s violin concerto with the NDR symphony orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach (Ondine), in the category Best Classical Compendium.
http://www.grammy.com/nominees?genre=5

Midori‘s Onyx-CD with sonatas by Janacek, Bloch and Schostakowitsch (Özgür Aydin, piano) was nominated for the ICMA Award 2014 in the chamber music category.  The ICMA is the only international award dedicated solely to classical music. Its jury is composed of seventeen members from the international music press. Winners will be announced in early 2014. http://www.icma-info.com/

Midori‘s new recordings: Hindemith‘s Violin Concerto & Violin Sonatas by Bloch, Janáček and Shostakovich (August 2013)

Violinist Midori presents two new CD projects at the end of her 30th anniversary season:

Together with the NDR Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach, Midori has recorded the rarely performed Violin Concerto by Hindemith. The CD has just been released by Ondine (August 2013).

In October 2013, Onyx publishes a recital CD with three 20th century violin sonatas played by Midori and pianist Özgür Aydin: Bloch’s seldom heard 2nd sonata Poéme mystique, Janáček’s sonata (1914-21) and Shostakovich’s late G major sonata of 1968, composed for David Oistrakh and Sviatoslav Richter.

Writing about these sonatas Midori says: “These are three works that interweave the anxieties of the modern world condition with much hope for the future. In the end, the music fills us with a great feeling of warmth and compassion while not shying away from what must be confronted.”

In Europe, Midori will appear in the upcoming months with the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Christoph Eschenbach and with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Turin.

A selection of Midori’s European concerts in the autumn:

11/12 October, Manchester
BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena
Walton: Violin concerto

27 October, Oxford, University
30 October, Moscow
Hindemith: Sonata for Violin and Piano in E Major
Franck: Sonata in A major
Mozart: Sonata e minor, KV 304
Strauss: Sonata
Özgür Aydin, piano

22/23 November, Berlin, Philharmonie
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Christoph Eschenbach
Bartók: Violin concerto No. 2

28/29 November, Turin
Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Juray Valčuha
Brahms: Violin concerto

Midori’s new CD – Hindemith (July 2013)

Midori in Bangladesh (January 2013)

Midori has just returned from Bangladesh where she continued her project for children and young people Music Sharing. Midori and selected young musicians performed in schools, hospitals and youth facilities, including rural areas. The program aims to bring the joy and inspiration of music to those who have limited access to live music and to promote international cultural exchanges. In recent years the program has been to Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Mongolia.