Midori Joins Festival Strings Lucerne For US Tour

The incomparable violinist, activist and Kennedy Center Honoree Midori embarks on a nine-city U.S. tour in November with the distinguished Swiss chamber orchestra Festival Strings Lucerne, under the leadership of Music Director Daniel Dodds.

Midori joins the orchestra to perform one of Robert Schumann's last works, his Violin Concerto in D minor, and Beethoven's Romance No. 2 in F major, which she recorded with Festival Strings Lucerne for her Beethoven album (Warner Classics, 2020). 

"I am looking forward to this tour with Festival Strings Lucerne and to performing the Schumann Violin Concerto," Midori said. "This is a musical partnership that has become very special for me, and to play such a moving work as the Schumann and the celestial Romance of Beethoven will connect me with a diverse range of emotions, imaginations, and inspirations. We have been touring with various repertoire in Europe, and it is a pleasure to now be joining FSL on their US tour, from coast to coast."

Rounding out the orchestra's program are Honegger's Pastorale d'Été; Richard Dubugnon's Caprice No. 4 (“Es muss sein!”) and Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, performed by Festival Strings Lucerne. 

Midori with Festival Strings Lucerne - US Tour Dates

Friday, November 3 at 8:00 pm | Worcester, MA
Music Worcester at Mechanics Hall | Link to Event

Saturday, November 4 at 8:00 pm | Brookville, NY (Long Island)
Tilles Center for the Performing Arts | Link to Event

Sunday, November 5 at 3: 00 pm | Newark, NJ
NJPAC | Link to Event

Wednesday, November 8 at 7:00 pm | Santa Barbara, CA
UCSB Arts & Lectures | Link to Event

Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 pm  | Northridge, CA
Soraya Center | Link to Event

Friday, November 10 at 8:00 pm | Costa Mesa, CA
Philharmonic Society of Orange County | Link to Event

Monday, November 13 at 7:30 pm | Wheaton, IL
Wheaton College Artist Series | Link to Event

Tuesday, November 14 at 7:30 pm | Iowa City, IA
Hancher Auditorium | Link to Event

Thursday, November 16 at 8:00 pm | Atlanta, GA
Emory University Schwartz Center for the Arts | Link to Event

About Midori

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. 

Last season, Midori celebrated the 40th anniversary of her professional debut with a recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas for piano and violin with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Warner Classics). 

Deeply committed to furthering humanitarian and educational goals, Midori has founded several non-profit organizations; the New York City-based Midori & Friends and Japan-based MUSIC SHARING both celebrated 30th anniversaries in 2022-2023.

For the Orchestra Residencies Program (ORP), which supports youth orchestras, Midori commissioned a new work from composer Derek Bermel to be performed virtually during the COVID lockdown, and ORP recently worked with the Afghan Youth Orchestra (in exile in Portugal).

Midori's Partners in Performance (PiP) helps to bring chamber music to smaller communities in the U.S.  In recognition of her work as an artist and humanitarian, she serves as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2021.

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. She is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Smith College, Yale University, Longy School of Music and Shenandoah 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.

About Festival Strings Lucerne
David Dodds, Music Director

The Festival Strings Lucerne was founded in 1956, quickly establishing itself among the most distinguished chamber orchestras in Europe and around the world. The orchestra made its debuts at the Salzburg Festival in 1957, in New York in 1959, in Mexico City in 1963, in Tokyo in 1971, and in Sydney 1977. The orchestra offers a wide-ranging repertoire in its own concert series at the Lucerne KKL and as guest ensemble at the Lucerne Festival, while regularly appearing at major European concert halls. 

Currently led by the violinist Daniel Dodds, the Festival Strings Lucerne, was established as a string orchestra with harpsichord by the Viennese violin legend Wolfgang Schneiderhan and the Swiss conductor and violinist Rudolf Baumgartner. From the start, the ensemble has been committed to the warm Austro-Hungarian string sound tradition. Dodds, who was appointed artistic director in 2012, leads the orchestra from the concertmaster's chair, continuing the example set by Baumgartner.

During his tenure, Dodds has extended the scope of the ensemble, adding instruments as required, to facilitate performances of midsize symphonic repertoire. The orchestra, whose repertoire ranges from baroque music to the contemporary, has premiered over one hundred contemporary works and has a long history of distinguished recordings, most recently on Pentatone and Warner Classics. 

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