The Midori Violin Studio Project in Sri Lanka

Initiative by premier sponsor Fairway Holdings, in association with Chamber Music Society of Colombo

Connoisseurs of western classical music in Sri Lanka will soon be enthralled by Midori, one of the world’s foremost violinists and the ‘Midori Violin Studio Project.’ This pioneering ten day project around Sri Lanka will include masterclasses, string workshops and concerts and is brought to you in part by the premier sponsor Fairway Holdings – a leading patron of art and culture – and the Chamber Music Society of Colombo (CMSC), celebrating its 10th anniversary. 

Midori is a visionary artist, activist and educator whose unique career has transcended traditional boundaries through her relentless drive to explore and build connections between music and the human experience. Never at rest, Midori brings the same dynamic innovation and expressive insight that has made her an iconic musician to her other roles as a leading global cultural ambassador and a dedicated educator.

 A leading concert violinist for over 30 years, Midori regularly transfixes audiences around the world, bringing together graceful precision and intimate expression that allows the listening public to not just hear music but to be personally moved by it.  She has performed with the world’s top orchestras including the London Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Cincinnati Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and Czech Philharmonic. In addition, she has collaborated recently with leading musicians such as Mariss Jansons, Peter Eötvös, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniele Gatti, Alan Gilbert, Susanna Mälkki, Kent Nagano, Robert Spano, James Conlon, Omer Meir Wellber and Paavo Järvi, among others.

 A debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11 launched her career and a front-page story in the New York Times three years later helped in the formation of a major international career. Performing as Midori – first name only – she has spent her decades before the public in virtually every major international capital and cultural centre, performing in a wide range of the greatest musical venues. Midori’s performing schedule is balanced between recitals, chamber music performances and appearances with the world’s most prestigious orchestras. Her discography runs to dozens of recordings, culminating in The Essential Midori, a compilation issued by Sony Masterworks. Her most recent recordings include a Grammy-winning CD featuring her performance of the Hindemith Violin Concerto with the NDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, a CD of Bloch, Janacek and Shostakovich sonatas and a new recording of the complete Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin.

Midori has built upon her fame by founding a series of successful not-for-profit organisations and other ongoing youth-directed projects. ‘Midori and Friends,’ created in New York City in 1992, brings musical education to underprivileged children, in partnership with the city’s public schools. ‘Partners in Performance,’ based in the US and ‘Music Sharing,’ formed in Japan, bring deeply committed music-making into smaller communities – those typically underserved by live arts presented at the highest levels. In recognition of such activities, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon named Midori a ‘Messenger of Peace’ in 2007.

Midori’s varied educational experience, including a Master’s degree in Psychology from New York University in 2005, adds to her innovative ideas as a pedagogue. With equal commitment to searching performances of the classical musical literature and to contemporary composition, while bringing the fruits of experience and passion to students at all levels and also to often-overlooked populations, Midori is at the forefront of enriching the lives of many different kinds of people around the world.

In Sri Lanka, Midori, together with her nine-member team of musicians, will conduct workshops focusing on music students and teachers. It will commence with an orchestral workshop for the string section of Sri Lankan Youth orchestras.

The Project will also visit numerous institutions for charity performances, with the aim of taking their music to those who normally would never have the opportunity to listen to world class music. The Project also envisages Midori and her team traveling to the North and South of the island and conducting workshops with young musicians of those regions. 

A special recital by Midori’s students will be presented at the Goethe Institute on 15 March and the Project will conclude with a concert at Lionel Wendt Theatre on 17 March, where all the musicians along with members of the CMSC will perform some outstanding repertoire such as the brilliant octet for violins, ‘Gran Turismo,’ composed by Andrew Norman and music by Ravel, Respighi, Chausson, Dvorak, Kreisler, Massenet, Liszt, Vivaldi and Corigliano.