Ravinia 2025 Issue 4

Midori also worked with fellows Liav Kerbel (cello) and Saeyoon Chon (piano) on Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2 last season. For the two ensembles she joins this summer, Midori selected works by 19th-century French composer Louise Farrenc (her Piano Trio No. 2) and 20th-century British composer Benjamin Britten (his String Quartet No. 2). and began taking lessons on a small- scale violin from her mother when she was 3. In 1982, she and her mother moved to the United States, where she commenced studies with the celebrated violin teacher Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School in New York and Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado. That same year, she made her concert debut with conductor Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. In 1986, at just 14 years old, the musical prodigy stunned onlookers with what would have been extraordinary display of sangfroid for an artist of any age. In an intense performance of Leon- ard Bernstein’s Serenade at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, she broke her E string during the fifth movement and deftly exchanged violins with the concertmaster. Then the same thing happened again, and she again carried off the exchange and managed to keep playing through it all unfazed. She was spotlighted on the front page of the New York Times two days later and became an instant superstar. Although, she has gone on to enjoy an extraordinary career, she has never fully escaped that moment, which remains frozen in many people’s memories of her. “The topic of the 1986 Tanglewood performance has always been coming back to me,” she said in a 2021 Ravinia interview. “It’s always been talked about, and because I’m so often reminded of it, I sometimes forget that it has already been 35 years, and yet at the same time I think about how the world has changed since then.” While she continues to maintain an intense touring schedule, which in March included a high-profile series of duo recitals in the United States that included stops in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, she has also devoted herself heavily to musical education and outreach. She works across a variety of platforms, including several that she founded: “Interacting with young people has been so pleasur- able, so inspiring, I can’t imagine my life without this component of my career.” Although Midori is set to join the fac- ulty at Juilliard, she will continue to teach her current students at Curtis until they graduate, a transition that will conclude in May 2027. In addition to serving as a guest faculty member at other schools and venues in the United States and abroad, there are her less traditional ven- tures, such as Midori & Friends, which she founded in 1992, and Music Sharing. The former offers an ever-evolving range of musical programs in conjunction with more than 75 public schools across New York City, and the latter strives to bring classical and traditional music to the chil- dren of Japan through visiting concerts and other offerings. After five previous summers on the Steans faculty, Midori spent a week in residence in 2023, essentially warming ups for her current role. “Of course, I had been here many times,” she said of the Piano & Strings Program, “but never as Artistic Director, and the level of involvement I get to have is that much deeper. It’s something that really allows me to interact so closely with younger musicians, and it’s actually the reason why I was attracted to the possibility of having this as my summer position.” While she enjoyed her first year as Artistic Director, this year has been even better because of what she called the “sense of coming back.” She has been able to welcome back and reconnect with the fellows who have returned for a second or sometimes third year and see their growth as musicians, as well as meet the new members of the group and get to know them. “To be able to be together is such a privilege, to be able to dive into chamber music, to work with each other, to get to know each other is such a fantastic opportunity. We’re enjoying it,” Midori said. She is especially excited about Ravinia’s commission of a new string quartet for a Piano & Strings ensemble by Thompson, a composer the vio- linist has admired for some time. The 37-year-old Atlanta native, a member of a composers group known as “The Blacknificent Seven,” is perhaps most widely recognized for his elegy for choir and orchestra, Seven Last Words of the Unarmed . It sets the final words of seven Black men who were killed by police and other authority figures, including Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, and Trayvon Martin, which premiered in 2015 and won the 2018 American Prize for Choral Composition. Although she didn’t disclose any details, Midori was also eager to share that she has already selected the Piano & Strings composer-in-residence for 2027, a strong indication that she plans to stick around for a while. Kyle MacMillan served as classical music critic for the Denver Post from 2000 through 2011. He currently freelances in Chicago, writing for such publications as the Chicago Sun-Times , Early Music America , Opera News , and Classical Voice of North America . RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 17 SACHINPATEL/RAVINIA