On Monday, April 21st, area music lovers will have a rare opportunity indeed. World-renowned violinist Midori, now in the 31st year of her career, will perform at 7:30 in the Fine Arts Center Theater on the WNMU campus in Silver City, New Mexico.
Silver City is privileged to host one of the finest musicians in the world today. Midori's appearance in Silver City is being co-sponsored by Partners in Performance, which was founded with the monetary award that Midori received as part of the coveted Avery Fisher Prize.
Midori was born in Osaka, Japan. Her mother, a violinist and Midori's first teacher, recognized her daughter's potential at a very early age when the toddler was humming a piece of music that she had heard days earlier at one of her mother's rehearsals. Midori received a one-sixteenth size violin when she was three years old, and she has said that learning to play was as natural for her as learning to talk.
Zubin Mehta heard Midori play in 1982 and invited her to make her now legendary debut at age eleven with the New York Philharmonic at their traditional New Year's Eve concert. She received a standing ovation. At age twenty-one she started an organization to bring music to underserved children in Japan and in the United States. She continues to be honored for this work and recognized as an innovative community engagement activist.
In 2007 Midori was named "United Nations Messenger of Peace," a title bestowed upon distinguished individuals carefully selected from the fields of art, music, literature and sports, who have agreed to help focus worldwide attention on the work of the United Nations. Midori shares this honor with, among others, Elie Wiesel, Jane Goodall and Yo-Yo Ma.
Midori's accompanist is Ozgur Aydin, a Turkish pianist born in the United States, who made his major orchestral debut in 1997 in a performance of Brahms' Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the same year, he won the renowned ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the Nippon Music Award in Tokyo – recognition that has since served as the basis for an active and diverse international performing career. He is also a laureate of the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Mr. Aydin regularly performs chamber music concerts and recitals in prestigious concert venues in Europe, the U.S. and Japan.
These days Midori's performances criss-cross the globe, and she also serves as Chair of the Strings Department at the University of Southern California. This year will mark the occasions of her very first performances in Iceland, India and Africa. Most recently Midori performed in Japan and Spain before returning to the U.S. for engagements.
Midori will give a master class at 2:30 p.m. on April 21 on the W.N.M.U. campus in the Parotti Recital Hall adjacent to the Fine Arts Center Theater. It is free of charge and will be open to the public. Midori will be working individually only with students at an advanced skill level; however, the class will be of interest particularly to violin and other music students, even if they do not participate in the one-on-one instruction. Audience members need not register.
Tickets for the evening concert are $15 for season ticket subscribers, $20 for adult non-subscribers, and $5 for students to age 17. They are being sold at Western Stationers, Alotta Gelato, online at www.gccconcerts.org, and in the lobby at the concert. For further information, call 538-5862.