Violinist Midori Goto was only 14 when, in 1986, she played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the late maestro Leonard Bernstein at the annual Summer Festival at Tanglewood in rural Massachusetts. That was remarkable enough, but what made Goto world-famous was not simply that she performed at such a young age in such elevated company -- but that she played marvelously despite breaking the E string of her instrument not once, but twice.
Midori Goto
The first time it happened, she coolly and quickly passed her violin to the concertmaster, who gave her his instrument with which to carry on playing. Then, when the same thing happened again, she had to perform with yet another unfamiliar instrument, when the associate concertmaster quickly handed her his to play. Despite the double disaster, Goto finished her solo performance with barely a missed beat . . . and was rewarded with a huge ovation from the knowledgeable audience at the prestigious event.
Even before that now legendary episode, though, Goto had already been recognized as a brilliant violin virtuoso.
In 1982, when she was just 11, conductor Zubin Mehta invited the young Osaka native, who had been playing violin from a very early age, to make her professional debut as guest soloist for the New York Philharmonic's traditional New Year's Eve concert. That night, the standing ovation she received was a sure indicator of even greater things to come.
And come they did, allowing her to mark the 20th anniversary of her performing career in 2002 with a string of headlining performances, including with the New York Philharmonic at the city's famed Avery Fisher Hall with Zubin Mehta.
But music isn't the only string to Goto's bow. Away from the world's top concert halls, she is also renowned for her educational and community-based music-outreach programs. Perhaps foremost among these is Midori & Friends, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization she founded in 1992 to offer children a comprehensive musical education, including workshops and concerts to children, both to foster their artistic skills and nurture their whole character.
In fact in the 2004-2005 season, Goto says, she will spend about 30 percent of her time on the many outreach projects she has become involved with, both in the United States, where she has lived since age 10, and Japan, where she founded Music Sharing two years ago.
As part of her work with that organization, this year Goto has already visited nearly 20 schools in Tokyo, Okinawa, Kochi, Fukui, Osaka and Kanagawa prefectures to present "Lecture Concerts" in which she plays the violin, gives a talk and shares her musical experiences with elementary-school children. In November, under the umbrella of Music Sharing, she plans to branch out even further and stage similar concerts featuring traditional Japanese music.
A resident of New York City, where she lives with her two dogs Franzie (named after the Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn [1732-1809]) and Willa (named after the American writer Willa Cather [1873-1947], one of her favorite authors), Goto received a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Gender studies at the Gallatin School of New York University in 2000 and is now a Master's degree candidate there.
In the current 2004-2005 season, Goto has concerts scheduled with, among others, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in the U.S., and with the Stockholm Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic and the Budapest Festival Orchestra in Europe. In addition, she will perform a recital at Carnegie Hall in New York, and in Tokyo and several other Japanese cities in Hokkaido, Osaka and Tochigi prefectures from December through January.
Despite the obviously taxing demands of her schedule, however, Goto found time for this exclusive interview with The Japan Times during a recent trip to Japan for her Music Sharing project.
JREF Top > Japan Forum
Aug 5, 2004, 06:42
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