Vista Philharmonic Orchestra featuring Midori

“She transfixes audiences, bringing together graceful precision and intimate expression.”

MOZART – The Magic Flute, K. 620: Overture
STRAUSS – Death and Transfiguration
BARTOK – Violin Concerto No. 2
KODALY – Dances from Galanta

Maestro Bruce Hangen is thrilled to welcome superstar violinist Midori to our grand Concert Hall stage this evening, one of the most outstanding violinists of our time! “She is one of a few international stars who make a point of playing with orchestras like ours in addition to the major metropolitan centers of the world,” says Bruce. The concert will feature works from the classical and romantic periods as well as symphonic music based on Hungarian folk tunes. After opening with a delightful Mozart opera overture, the Orchestra takes on Strauss. “From a technical point of view,” says Bruce, “orchestras feel challenged by Straus’s writing and like to step up to the plate. While it starts all dark and lugubrious, the piece resolves with an uplifting C major sound at the end.” Bartok’s Second Violin Concerto will be a fitting work for our special guest soloist with its expressive colors and exuberant motion.

About our guest soloist:
A visionary artist, activist, and educator, Midori explores and builds connections between music and the human experience and breaks with traditional boundaries. She will mark the 40th anniversary of her professional debut this season, celebrating a remarkable career that began in 1982, when she debuted with the New York Philharmonic under conductor Zubin Mehta at age 11. In concert around the world, Midori transfixes audiences, bringing together graceful precision and intimate expression. She has performed with, among others, the London, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras; the Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks; the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics; the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; and Festival Strings Lucerne. She has collaborated with such outstanding musicians as Claudio Abbado, Emanuel Ax, Leonard Bernstein, Jonathan Biss, Constantinos Carydis, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Mariss Jansons, Yo‑Yo Ma, Susanna Mälkki, Joana Mallwitz, Antonello Manacorda, Zubin Mehta, Tarmo Peltokoski, Donald Runnicles, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Omer Meir Wellber. In recognition of her work as an artist and humanitarian, Midori serves as a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In recognition of her lifetime of contributions to American culture, she is a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and was celebrated by Yo-Yo Ma, Bette Midler, and John Lithgow, among others, during the May 2021 Honors ceremonies in Washington, DC. Last season’s concert highlights included the premiere of Detlev Glanert’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and her appearance in Carnegie Hall’s benefit Concert for Ukraine. Midori was born in Osaka in 1971 and 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 and is a Distinguished Visiting Artist at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She plays the 1734 Guarnerius del Gesù ‘ex-Huberman’ and uses four bows – two by Dominique Peccatte, one by François Peccatte, and one by Paul Siefried.