Youth Symphony Rehearsal. Photo courtesy of Greater Des Moines Youth Symphonies.

Past Residencies

Alaska / Duluth / Des Moines / Albuquerque / South Dakota / Vermont / Montana / Winston-Salem

Des Moines, Iowa
28 January - 3 February 2008

Midori's residency with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra(DMSO) and Greater Des Moines Youth Symphonies (GDMYS) took place just after the Iowa caucuses, the first major electoral event of the nominating process for the 2008 American Presidential election. Needless to say, local energy was running high in January 2008!

To supplement Midori's residency, the Des Moines Symphony Academy won a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the specifications of which entailed music presentations in four public high schools with high percentages of students in free/reduced-cost lunch programs. Other educational events during the Orchestra Residencies Program (ORP) included an Interdisciplinary Discussion at Drake University, focusing on inclusion of music in a well-rounded liberal arts education; a student Chamber Music Workshop; a Teaching Seminar and a masterclass for three GDMYS violinists.

Midori also spoke at an Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs reception and at an advocacy luncheon with the Bravo Arts & Culture Foundation on the importance of engaging the community in music and supporting arts education on all levels.

Rehearsing with Sinfonia violins. Photo courtesy of GDMYS.

The GDMYS concert at the Temple for Performing Arts showcased all four of its youth ensembles and featured Midori in four works on the program. In addition to being the soloist for the first movement of the Barber Violin Concerto and co-soloist in the first movement of the Bach Double Violin Concerto with the Youth Symphony & Chamber Orchestra, Midori played along with the Youth Philharmonic in Simple Gifts, composed by the Philharmonic's conductor, Derek Claussen, and Idylls of Pegasus by Richard Meyer.

Before her well-attended performances of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the DMSO over the weekend, Midori gave her thoughts and insight into the work at an Evenings with the Orchestra class, preceding the Wednesday night concert.

At the conclusion of the residency, DMSO Music Director Joseph Giunta contributed an editorial to the Des Moines Register that included the following words:

"In short, Midori gave a great gift to us and one that was all the more special because we were able to share it so widely with our community... Midori left an enormous impact on each of the hundreds of people she touched this last week. Activities like this do a lot to make Central Iowa a better place to live. Thank you to everyone who helped to make this the most successful and important week in the 70-year history of the Des Moines Symphony."