In addition to being recognized as an extraordinary violinist, Midori (whose full name is Midori Goto) is also a devoted and gifted educator and an innovative community engagement activist.
In recognition of the breadth and quality of her work in these three separate fields, in 2012 she was given the prestigious Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum in Davos, was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Yale University.
In 2007, she was named a Messenger of Peace by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Over the years she has created a new model for young artists who seek to balance the joys and demands of a performing career at the highest level with a hands-on investment in the power of music to change lives.
Named Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Southern California in 2012, Midori works with students at USC’s Thornton School of Music, where she is also Jascha Heifetz Chair. She also holds a guest professorship at Japan’s Soai University and devotes substantial periods of time to community engagement work.
Midori’s involvement with community engagement began in 1992 when the then 21-year-old started an organization to bring music to under-served neighborhoods in the United States and Japan. What started with classroom appearances has blossomed into four distinct organizations, whose impact is felt worldwide.
photo courtesy of the annenberg center
Midori will perform March 25 at The Helene Galen Auditorium at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower Medical Center.
Midori & Friends (midoriandfriends.org) has enhanced the lives of more than 225,000 New York City children with little or no access to the arts through high-quality music education that nurtures their creativity and self-confidence. Partners in Performance (pipmusic.org) offers recitals by Midori and others in small U.S. communities seldom visited by established touring artists. Orchestra Residencies Program (go to midori.com/projects) brings a weeklong residency by Midori each year to two U.S. youth orchestras with winning applications.
And Music Sharing (www.musicsharing.jp) provides both traditional Japanese music and Western classical performances and workshops to children in schools, hospitals, and institutions and also provides learning opportunities in Japan and Southeast Asia for young artists from all over the world. In addition, both Orchestra Residencies Program and Music Sharing conduct satellite programs with Midori in countries such as Costa Rica, Myanmar, Bulgaria, Mongolia, and Cambodia.
Midori’s two most recent albums join an already extensive discography on two other labels, with 14 recordings on Sony Classical and two on Philips. In 2013, Finnish label Ondine featured Midori in a rare recording of Paul Hindemith’s violin concerto, in collaboration with the NDR Symphony Orchestra and conductor Christoph Eschenbach, which won a Grammy for Best Classical Compendium. Later in the season the British label Onyx released a recital program by Midori with pianist Özgür Aydin in sonatas for violin and piano by Shostakovich, Janáček, and Bloch, which was nominated for an International Classical Music Award.
In 2004, Midori joined the ranks of published authors with the release in Germany of a memoir titled Einfach Midori (Simply Midori) for the publisher Henschel Verlag. It was updated and reissued in German-speaking territories in 2012.
In 2000, Midori received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and gender studies at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University, graduating magna cum laude, and in 2005 earned her master’s degree in psychology, also from NYU.
Palm Springs Life Festival, March 20 through April 24, 2016. Tickets: www.palmspringslifefestival.com
Midori, 7 p.m. March 25, The Helene Galen Auditorium at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower Medical Center, 39000 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage. Presented by El Paseo Jewelers.