MIDORI AND JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET COMMEMORATE BEETHOVEN’S 250TH BIRTHDAY YEAR WITH RECITALS IN THE U.S.

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Following recitals in the US and Europe in 2019 with sonatas by Schumann, Fauré, Debussy and Enescu, Midori and pianist Yean-Yves Thibaudet continued their partnership in 2020 with all-Beethoven sonata programs across the United States in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Their coast-to-coast tour culminated in California, where they performed the complete Beethoven violin sonatas cycle over three concerts at Costa Mesa’s Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

Midori is featured on UN postcard promoting its Decade of Action initiative to deliver Sustainable Development Goals by 2030

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As a United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2007, Midori has strongly supported the organization’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by all UN Member States in 2015 as part of a 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which set out a 15-year plan to achieve the Goals.
With just 10 years to go, an ambitious global effort is underway to deliver the 2030 promise by mobilizing more governments, civil society, businesses and calling on all people to make the Global Goals their own.
Midori appears on a newly-released postcard to promote the Decade of Action.

ICEP 2019 in Cambodia

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In December 2019, Midori was joined by violinist Elina Buksha, violist Erika Gray and cellist Noémie Raymond-Friset for the latest instalment of the International Community Engagement Program (ICEP). Read about the participants This season’s ICEP took place in Cambodia, the site of an earlier ICEP 12 years ago.
Midori, Elina, Erica and Noémie met in Phnom Penh to rehearse before starting their two-week program of visits in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Battambang to hospitals, hospices and other medical facilities as well as to schools, support organizations for people with disabilities, with HIV and others who are victims of or at risk of rape, human trafficking and prostitution.
They also participated in cultural exchanges at the University of Fine Arts Department of Music with shared performances and discussions of their respective art forms, outreach activities and more.
The ICEP participants will reunite in June 2020 for the second part of each ICEP season, when they visit institutions in Japan, report on their experiences in the December ICEP country and perform a few public concerts.
For a more detailed account of the 2019 Cambodia ICEP, including links to many of the institutions they visited, please read the blog posted by the participants.
 

Midori is in Cambodia with ICEP (International Community Engagement Program)

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As she has done since 2006, Midori ends her calendar year with the International Community Engagement Program (ICEP) of her Japanese foundation MUSIC SHARING. While Christmas is being celebrated in many western countries at the end of December, the violinist and UN Messenger of Peace forms a quartet with three young musicians – this year Elina Buksha (violin), Erika Gray (viola) and Noémie Raymond-Friset (cello) – to share their music in Cambodia in an exchange with the local culture, especially with marginalized children and young people in disadvantaged areas of the country.
Since 2016, Midori and her young musician colleagues have maintained a MUSIC SHARING ICEP blog in which they relay their impressions. There you will also find biographies of the participating musicians and general information about the program and the foundation.
For videos from previous ICEP visits, please look on MUSIC SHARING’s YouTube channel .

MIDORI AWARDED BRAHMS PRIZE 2020

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The Brahms Society Schleswig-Holstein announced on Thursday, November 21, 2019 in Heide, that it has awarded Midori the Brahms Prize 2020. The award ceremony will take place on 3 May 2020 in St. Bartholomew’s Church in Wesselburen.

In an excerpt from the Brahms Society’s statement:
The Brahms Society honors an outstanding violinist and proven Brahms interpreter, one of the most impressive personalities in the music world. The famous artist is honored for her internationally acclaimed interpretations of the works of Johannes Brahms as well as for her great support of the next generation of artists and special commitment in the spirit of humanity for cultural projects.

Here you can find the Brahms Society’s statement (in German).

Midori appointed to a named faculty chair at The Curtis Institute of Music

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Midori has been appointed to one of The Curtis Institute of Music’s named faculty chairs. She now holds the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies, previously held by Aaron Rosand.  Midori joined the faculty in 2018.
You can read the official announcement here.
 

Midori tours with works by contemporary female composers

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Between November 2nd and 8th, Midori and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute present a program consisting solely of works by contemporary female composers Olga Neuwirth, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Vivian Fung, Sofia Gubaidulina, including a world premiere by Tamar Diesendruck. The recitals will take place at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, Le Poisson Rouge in New York and London’s Kings Place.
November 2: Washington, D.C. Library of Congress
November 4: New York Le Poisson Rouge
November 8: London King’s Place
On her Facebook page, Midori speaks about the project in general and about each of the works. Please click on the links to watch and listen to these short videos.
Vivian Fung: Bird Song 
Sofia Gubaidulina: Dancer on a Tightrope
Olga Neuwirth: Quasars / Pulsars
Tamar Diesendruck Unruly Strands – World Premiere
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh: Habil-Sayagi
The recital at the New York nightclub Le Poisson Rouge was announced in The New Yorker
 

Partners in Performance (PiP) recitals on both coasts of the U.S.

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On September 20 and 22, Midori and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute performed recitals in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Ridgecrest, California as part of Midori’s non-profit organization Partners in Performance.
Since its founding in 2003, Partners in Performance has co-sponsored over three dozen chamber music programs throughout the United States with the goal of stimulating interest in classical music in smaller communities.
This year’s PiP recital repertoire includes works by Brahms, Fauré and Debussy.
 

Midori and Jean-Yves Thibaudet to give duo recitals in Europe in Autumn 2019

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Timothy Greenfield-Sanders   thibaudet_mood_1
 
On 13 September 2019, Midori and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet perform their first duo recital in Europe at the Stadthalle Germering, near Munich. The program draws on the music of Schumann, Fauré, Debussy and Enescu. The concert in Germering will be followed by a recital at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest. Recitals in France and the Netherlands follow in November.
In April of this year, Midori and Jean-Yves Thibaudet embarked on their first duo tour through the US, with stops in Scottsdale, San Francisco, La Jolla, Chicago and Princeton.
Details of Midori and Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s concerts in Europe:
13 September – Germering, Stadthalle
Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 1
Fauré: Violin Sonata No. 1
Debussy: Violin Sonata L. 140
Enescu: Violin Sonata No. 3

16 September – Bucharest, Romanian Athenaeum – Enescu Festival
same program as 13 September

17 November – Lyon, Auditorium
same program as 13 September
20 November – Utrecht, TivoliVredenburg
same program as 13 September
 

Midori receives Great Immigrant honor from Carnegie Corporation of New York

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Midori has been honored as a Great Immigrant by Carnegie Corporation of New York on America’s Independence Day.
Every year since 2006, on the Fourth of July, Carnegie Corporation honors the legacy of its founder, Andrew Carnegie, by recognizing a group of extraordinary men and women – naturalized citizens of the United States – who have made notable contributions to the progress of American society by enriching its communities and culture, strengthening its economy and invigorating its democracy.
Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie rose out of poverty to become one of the greatest contributors to American industry and philanthropy. Carnegie believed that the infusion of talent that immigrants bring to America keeps its society vibrant, a view that is borne out by the accomplishments of the nearly 600 individuals honored through the initiative to date.
Midori was one of thirty eight Great Immigrants honored in 2019.
Read about the Great Immigrant Program