Today is Violinist Midori’s Birthday!

A visionary artist, activist, and educator, Midori stands as one of the most outstanding violinists of our time

Born in Osaka in 1971, Midori began her violin studies with her mother, Setsu Goto. A recognized child prodigy, at the age of 11, she was invited to perform with the New York Philharmonic by conductor Zubin Mehta.

As a leading concert violinist for over 40 years, she has performed with the London, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. She has collaborated with outstanding musicians such as Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Emanuel Ax, Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Järvi, Omer Meir Wellber, Yo-Yo Ma, and Susanna Mälkki.

Deeply committed to furthering humanitarian and educational goals, she has founded several non-profit organizations, including Midori & Friends and MUSIC SHARING. She serves as a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

Midori was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and was celebrated during the May 2021 Honors ceremonies in Washington D.C. by Yo-Yo Ma, Bette Midler, and John Lithgow, among others.

Midori plays the 1734 Guarnerius del Gesù ‘ex-Huberman’. She uses four bows: two by Dominique Peccatte, one by François Peccatte, and one by Paul Siefried.

In addition to performing and recording regularly, she serves a teaching position on faculty as the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and as Distinguished Visiting Artist at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

Since the summer of 2024, Midori is the newly-appointed artistic director of Ravinia Steans Music Institute’s Program for Piano & Strings.

MIDORI | TCHAIKOVSKY | VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR | CLAUDIO ABBADO & THE BERLIN PHILHARMONIC | 1995