Press Coverage
Chattanooga Times Free Press, October 8, 2010
Former prodigy comes to Chattanooga
by Holly Leber
This week, Midori comes to Chattanooga as part of her Orchestra Residencies program, through which she visits two small cities each year to conduct workshops with local schools and perform with youth orchestras and their professional partners. According to Chattanooga Symphony & Opera music director Robert Bernhardt, this is the second year the CSO has applied to be a part of the residencies program.
"In many ways, it feels like this is a once-in-a-lifetime (opportunity)," said Bernhardt. "She plays with the top orchestras of the world. She's constantly wanted by orchestras of international fame, because of her incredible ability. And there is a connection to the prodigy that she was."
Mobile Press-Register, 29 March 2009
Midori arrives with springtime in Mobile
by Thomas B. Harrison
The Larkins Music Center is abuzz with anticipation for the arrival of the violinist Midori, who gets here Tuesday to begin a weeklong residency with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra. Her visit coincides symbolically with the profusion of springtime flowers, mild temperatures and the seasonal sense of youth and renewed energy.
MSO Music Director Scott Speck has known about [Midori] since she was launched on the international scene.
...Speck says he is especially excited that Midori will be working with the Mobile Symphony Youth Orchestra during the same week as part of the residency.
"This is certainly the most high-profile outing ever for the youth orchestra,"he says, "and it bodes very well for the future of the group. Robert Seebacher, their conductor...will be a great partner for Midori as well."
Elgin Daily Herald, 2 October 2008
Legendary violinist shares wisdom with U-46 students, staff
by Harry Hitzeman
Legendary Japanese violinist Midori hit the high notes on her E string as she brought energy, enthusiasm and expertise to Larkin High School Thursday as part of a weeklong residency with the Elgin Symphony and Youth Orchestra.
"It's really invaluable,"said Colin Clark, a Larkin High School junior who plays the cello in the Maud Powell String Quartet, the Elgin Youth Symphony's top string ensemble. "When you're rehearsing, you think you have everything down and then someone like Midori comes."
Midori held a tutoring session with the quartet in the Larkin auditorium in front of about 375 orchestra students.
Karen Darling, a St. Charles junior who plays the violin, agreed with Gabi Pittford of Wheaton and Berit Goodman of Woodstock that Midori was humble and inspirational.
"It's not only matching style and technical (aspects), it's matching emotion and how you feel about the piece,"Goodman said.
Added Darling: "It's almost like we have to feel the same emotion all together."
Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 28 April 2008
Renowned violinist dazzles at Pavilion
by Jay Kirshenmann
Saturday night it was a piece by Tchaikovsky that the soloist made us feel, letting us experience the emotion of the music.
...As she taught musicians during the week leading to this concert, Midori's fluid fingers correspond with subtle ritards and dynamic shifts. She serves us a musical, emotional narrative paying microscopically close attention to the way she performs. With no amplification, no microphones, three levels of the nearly full house were filled with even the softest, delicately played notes, masterfully performed.
The orchestra's musicians performed at the top, too, perhaps more insightful of the way it plays thanks to Midori's week of master classes.
Delta David Gier led the orchestra with a joy in his conducting, his body language more pronounced than usual. He says the musicians have told him they will never play the same again since their time with the world-famous violinist.
Not since cellist Yo-Yo Ma played here in September 1999 has the community been buzzing with the excitement of the past week with Midori in town.
For those who don't travel to other venues often, this is the time to hear a soloist who exhibits more than just phenomenal technique, more than a glimpse of a virtuoso at the top of her career. It's a chance to feel the emotion of the music, and experience what a master musician can do to our souls.
Des Moines Register, 27 February 2008
Guest Editorial
by Joseph Guinta, Music Director and Conductor, Des Moines Symphony
Prior to [Midori's] arrival, I had been referring to this opportunity as "life-changing." Little did I know that my every expectation would be exceeded by the generosity, kindness and commitment of this artist. Midori told us, more than once, that she performs so that she can afford to teach. As counter-intuitive as that may seem, especially when listening to how beautifully she plays, you only have to observe how she interacts with students and the passion with which she talks about music education to recognize the truth of her statement.
...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.
Miracles really do happen-still today and right here in Des Moines!
Winston-Salem Journal, 21 May 2007
Youth Appeal: Midori, symphony turn it on
By Ken Keuffel
The Winston-Salem Symphony has been pleasing lots of adults lately, but it also knows how to reach 'tweens and teens. I say this after attending "Young at Heart with Midori,"which opened yesterday at the Stevens Center.
The concert, conducted by Robert Moody, had two elements of great appeal to young people. One inspired, the other educated.
The inspiration came courtesy of Bach's Concerto for Two Violins: In it, Midori, a virtuoso violinist with few peers, shared the solo spotlight with Ana Calles, 17, the concertmaster of the Winston-Salem Youth Symphony.
...For Calles, rubbing elbows with Midori in public must have seemed like a daunting prospect. But she rose to the occasion, particularly in the slow movement, in which each line sang out mellifluously. The two violinists captured the bubbly, highly rhythmic qualities of the finale in a way that made shoes tap (lightly) on the floors.
Great Falls Tribune, 2 April 2007
Column by Richard Ecke
Violinist Midori displayed a commanding presence on stage at the Civic Center late last week in a performance with the Great Falls Youth Orchestra. ...[She] was dramatic, elegant and graceful.
School kids who watched her in a special performance Thursday afternoon were "absolutely mesmerized,"said Gordon Johnson, who conducts the Great Falls Symphony Orchestra.
"She is lovely in every way,"Johnson said. "She's taught us so much about music and about ourselves."
Also impressive was the Youth Orchestra itself, featuring self-assured performers who sounded especially good playing Georges Bizet's "L'Arlesienne Suite."
Albuquerque Journal, 22 January 2006
Midori Concert With NMSO Forceful, Ethereal
By D.S. Crafts
Midori, as well as the NMSO [New Mexico Symphony Orchestra] under [Guillermo] Figueroa, makes a persuasive case for the [Britten Violin Concerto] with this carefully executed reading. There was bounding energy galore as well as a solo cadenza in the middle of the piece that Midori highlighted gloriously with visceral double stops and glowing pianissimos. Forceful yet ethereal, her playing coupled elegant lyricism with vigor and contrast, all delineated with razor-sharp articulation.
Midori's admirable commitment to young musicians is well-known, and Friday night at Popejoy Hall she generously shared the stage with members of the Albuquerque Youth Symphony to play the Double Violin Concerto by Bach...
...As an extra bonus Midori appeared once again to play the Finale movement of the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, one of the staples of the concerto literature. Amir Kats led the Albuquerque Youth Symphony with gusto, fully rising to the occasion of performing with this legendary soloist.
Burlington Free Press, 28 January 2006
Around the Master
VYO violinists make most of thrilling one-night lesson with Midori
by Brent Hallenbeck
[Kate] Noble said just after her session with Midori that it was just as exciting and just as nerve wracking as you might expect to have a 30-minute private lesson with a world-class musician in front of 150 people.
"Once you get up there you sort of forget and you just play,"Noble said. "You just want to listen to her and enjoy it."
Duluth News Tribune, 9 May 2005
String Theory
by Sarah Henning
[Super String Day] paired young musicians with classical music superstar Midori and Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra musicians for an afternoon of rehearsals, workshops and a concert.
...The afternooon's main goal was to inspire.
...Workshops addressed everything from staying in tempo to page-turning techniques. "I'm definitely learning how to listen and pay attention to other musicians better,"said Andy Halfrisch, a 17-year-old violinist from Duluth...
In the surging "Thais: Meditation,"Midori played a keening solo. Kathryn Wilcox, a 15-year-old viola player from Bemidji [MN], said being on stage next to a player that accomplished was incredible.
"Midori is so cool, I was like, in awe,"she said.
Anchorage Daily News, 17 October 2004
Midori highlights ASO concert
PIANISSIMOS: The soloist's control, tone were outstanding
by Kate Stine
The highlight of the concert was by far Midori's performance. A child prodigy in her youth, Midori is a long-time soloist and has vast experience with many different groups. While in Anchorage, she worked with the Anchorage Youth Symphony, and has made a determined effort in her career to encourage the musicianship of children...
Midori is a soloist who... manages to stand out by tone, by quality, by phrasing, instead of relying on sheer volume to do the trick for her.