Midori Special Concert | 7:30 PM, feb. 9, 2027

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 Isaac Stern, Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, and many others.

In the 2026-27 season, Midori debuts a new work by Thierry Escaich on U.S. recital tours in February (Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York) and April (Palm Springs, CA and Troy, NY). She performs Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn on an eight-city coast-to-coast U.S. tour with Festival Strings Lucerne in February, and the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 with both the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra and the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to her U.S. appearances, Midori’s European engagements include the world premiere of a new concerto for two violins by Detlev Glanert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, with Semyon Bychkov, conductor, and Renaud Capuçon, violin; performances of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in Holland and Belgium with the Bamberg Symphony under Manfred Honeck; a recital at Wigmore Hall; and the world premiere of the Escaich work at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in August. She also appears with the Orchestre de Paris and tours with Kremerata Baltica, performing a new two-violin work with violinist Gidon Kremer in honor of his 80th birthday, written for them by three Baltic composers. In Asia, she performs in a theatrical multimedia project in January as part of Suntory Hall’s 40th Anniversary.  

Founded in 2003, Partners in Performance (PiP) co-presents chamber music concerts across the United States with the goal of fostering interest in classical music, particularly in smaller communities outside the radius and without the financial resources of major urban centers. Recitals by Midori and PiP’s Young Artist programs have heightened local interest in chamber music while attracting new audiences and donors to the presenting organizations.

Her latest album, Schumann: Violin Concerto & Works for Violin and Piano by Clara and Robert Schumann, with Festival Strings Lucerne and Özgür Aydin, was released on Pentatone in March 2026. In August, Orchid Classics releases a digital EP with the world premiere recording of Derek Bermel’s Spring Cadenzas, written for Midori’s Orchestra Residencies Program.

Deeply committed to furthering humanitarian and educational goals, Midori has founded several non-profit organizations. The New York City-based Midori & Friends, active for over three decades, offers accessible, tuition-free music education programs to students in NYC. Based in Japan, MUSIC SHARING brings both Western classical and traditional Japanese music to young people throughout Japan and developing areas of Asia; the organization’s International Community Engagement Program (ICEP) program traveled to Cambodia and Japan last season. The Orchestra Residencies Program (ORP) supports youth orchestras around the country. 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.

Özgür Aydin

Turkish - American pianist Özgür Aydin made his major concerto debut in 1997 in a performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.1 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the same year, he won the renowned ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the Nippon Music Award in Tokyo – recognition that has since served as the basis for an active and diverse international performing career. He is also a laureate of the Cleveland International Piano Competition.

Mr. Aydin has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras in Germany and Turkey, as well as with the BBC Concert Orchestra London, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, Slovak State Philharmonic and Canada’s Calgary Philharmonic. Frequently invited to summer music festivals, he has appeared at Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Ravinia and Edinburgh. He is a guest at many prestigious venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Munich’s Herkulessaal and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.

Mr. Aydin has made recordings of solo piano works by Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov. His performances of the complete cycles of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas and 5 concertos as well as Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier have been highly praised by the critics.

He is also a dedicated chamber musician, he enjoys recurrent collaborations with violinists Midori and Kolja Blacher, cellist Clemens Hagen and members of the Berlin Philharmonic. A new recording with Midori consisting of works by Bloch, Janacek and Shostakovic is released on Onyx Classiscs.

Born in Colorado, USA to Turkish parents, Mr. Aydin began his music studies at the Ankara Conservatory in Turkey. He subsequently studied with Peter Katin at the Royal College of Music in London and with Prof. Kammerling at the Hanover Music Academy. He has also received valuable instruction from artists such as Tatiana Nikolaeva, Andras Schiff and Ferenc Rados.

Mr. Aydin lives in Berlin and teaches at the University oft the Arts.

Program: TBA