News

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.
 

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).

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
 

The ICEP participants who visited Vietnam in December 2018 came together again to share their music making, jointly and individually, in Japan in June 2019. This is the second part of the ICEP experience each year.
Midori, Tatjana Roos (violin), Charlotte Malin (viola) and Alan Toda-Ambaras (violoncello) visited schools, hospitals, welfare institutions, nursing homes and other institutions in Tokyo, Obama, Takamatsu, Tokoyama City and Wadayama. There they played sections from string quartets by Mozart, Puccini and Debussy and, individually, visited classrooms, hospital rooms and other spaces to communicate musically with young children and elderly people in various states of health and awareness.
They blogged about their experiences.
The quartet also gave public concerts in Osaka’s Phoenix Hall and Tokyo’s Oji Hall.
 

Midori will give a master class as part of the 10^th biennial Starling-DeLay Symposium for Violin Studies, which takes place at Juilliard between May 28^th and June 1^st.
In addition to master classes, the symposium includes recitals, pedagogy sessions and opportunities for participants to observe and explore how to nurture and develop exceptional student artists.
The Starling-DeLay Symposium, hosted by Juilliard,  is dedicated to the art of violin teaching and performance. It is part of the Starling-DeLay Institute of Violin Studies, made possible by the support of the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation. The Symposium also continues the legacy of Dorothy DeLay, a member of the Juilliard violin faculty from 1948 until 2002, whose students included Itzhak Perlman, Cho-Liang Lin, Midori, Sarah Chang, Gil Shaham, Shlomo Mintz, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and Brian Lewis, who serves as the symposium’s artistic director.
Tickets to the master classes are $32 and are available by request only at [email protected]  

         Photos  (c) IFAD
Midori performed the Preludio from Bach’s Partita No. 3  in E Major for solo violin at the Annual Meeting of IFAD, the United Nation’s International Fund for Agricultural Development, and made a speech in which she called on Pope Francis and other world leaders in attendance to believe in the transformative power of women and girls in underserved remote communities.
Recounting her recent visit to rural villages in Tuyen Quang province, Viet Nam (video and article), where an IFAD-supported project has been working to improve rural women’s access to training and finance, UN Messenger of Peace Midori said, “What I saw was the power of equality, responsibility, and hope. And the difference people can make when they feel in control.” Midori was in Viet Nam in December 2018 with her International Community Engagement Program.
Midori noted that by having access to rural finance, the women she met said they felt a strong sense of responsibility to participate in building local economies as well as to bring about positive changes in their communities.
In Tuyen Quang province, IFAD has supported women’s participation in farming groups and has increased their access to financial services, markets and private agribusiness investors. As a result, the number of rural households suffering from food shortages has been reduced by 25 per cent.
“By talking with the women, I learned that development isn’t just about financial gain; it’s about seeing a future. The women I met weren’t just thinking about today, they were using their money to educate their children and invest in tomorrow,” Midori told the audience.
“It is a very powerful way to address inequality. When I spoke to the girls in the villages, they told me their mothers and aunts were their inspiration; their role models,” she added.
IFAD development experts have found that when gender inequality is addressed and the underlying barriers for women and girls are removed, it is possible to unlock the potential for all people—men, women, boys, and girls—to be equally valued and to lead productive lives.