On January 18, 2024, Midori received the Brandeis Creative Arts Award at the Slosberg Music Center of Brandeis University from President Ron Liebowitz. The award ceremony was followed by a recital with pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute. The Brandeis Creative Arts Award recognizes excellence in the arts and the lives and works of distinguished, active American artists. It was established in 1956, eight years after the University’s founding, at a time when there was no comparable award in higher education. Neal Hampton, director of the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra and chair of the award’s planning committee said, “Midori was selected because of her visionary artistry exhibited over decades of performances in the world’s great […]

After a hiatus during the Covid pandemic, Midori’s International Community Engagement Program activities outside of Japan resumed in December 2023 with presentations and performances in Laos. Midori was joined by violinist Ellinor D’Melon, violist Hiroki Kasai and cellist Alejandro Gomez-Pareja for a week of activities at schools, vocational centers, hospitals and cultural centers in Vientiane, Muang Xay and Luang Prabang. The cultural exchange also saw members of the ICEP quartet engage in traditional dyeing and paper making, interviews with students, observance of an alms giving ceremony and a storytelling session.         A follow-up will take place in June 2024, when the quartet will reunite for performances and […]

One work with which Midori has long been associated is Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade (after Plato’s ‘Symposium’). In 1986, at the age of 14, Midori performed the Serenade with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, the orchestra’s summer home, under the baton of the composer. During the course of the performance, the E-string on her ¾-size violin snapped. The concertmaster handed Midori his full-size violin, which she played until a string on that broke as well. The associate concertmaster had passed his violin to the concertmaster, who then handed Midori that violin and she continued to play. She never missed a note. It was an astonishing feat of professionalism and display […]