Midori, violin – Visiting Artist Series

Williams presents violinist and special guest artist Midori along with pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute sponsored by the Office of the President of Williams College and the Williams College Department of Music. This event is free and open to the public without ticketing or reservations.

Midori and Ieva Jokubaviciute present works for violin and piano: Che Buford – Resonances of Spirit (premiere); Beethoven – Sonata in F Major for Violin and Piano, op. 24, “Spring”; Poulenc – Sonata for Violin and Piano; Clara Wieck Schumann – Romances (3) for Violin and Piano, op. 22; Robert Schumann – Three Romances, op. 94; Schubert – Rondo in B Minor, D. 895.

Midori has commissioned and performed new music and championed living composers throughout her career. Her U.S. recital tour this season, with pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, features the world premiere of Resonances of Spirit, by the New York-based composer Che Buford. Midori commissioned Buford to create a piece inspired by Negro spirituals that would highlight the violin’s exceptional capacity to convey pain and sorrow. The work incorporates water, wind, deep sine tones, electronic drones, and whispers of Yoruba prayer, alongside Buford’s own humming and singing, with the violin blending seamlessly into these atmospheric textures. In their note on the piece, Buford writes:

“Rather than referencing [spirituals] in a literal or transparent way, I wanted to capture their emotional essence and transform it through my own musical language that includes incorporating electronic elements.”

Midori is a visionary artist, activist and educator who explores and builds connections between music and the human experience. In the four decades since her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11, she has performed with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras and has collaborated with world-renowned musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, and many others.

This season, she performs with the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and other American orchestras. Outside the U.S., she performs with the Vienna Philharmonic under Andris Nelsons in Vienna and in Asia, and with both the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) and German National Youth Orchestra in two appearances at Berlin Philharmonic Hall. Midori is Artistic Director of Ravinia Steans Music Institute’s Piano & Strings program.

As someone deeply committed to furthering humanitarian and educational goals, she has founded several non-profit organizations to bring music to children and underserved communities. In recognition of her work as an artist and humanitarian, she serves as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and in 2021, she was named a Kennedy Center Honoree.

Born in Osaka in 1971, she began her violin studies with her mother, Setsu Goto, at an early age. Midori is the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.