Pittsburgh symphony Violin virtuoso Midori at auditorium

Staff report

new castle, pa.

Violin superstar Midori, who first captured the hearts of audiences 30 years ago as an 11-year-old virtuoso, will perform with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Scottish Rite Cathedral on Feb. 4.

Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert range from $16 to $59 and are available at pittsburghsymphony.org/src or by phone at 412-392-4900.

The Scottish Rite Cathedral, 110 E. Lincoln Ave., will offer a pre-concert buffet dinner from 6 to 7 p.m. The cost is $22 per person and reservations are required. Call 724-654-6683 (option 3 then option 2) or email info@cathedralnewcastle.com for reservations or more information.

Manfred Honeck, director of the Pittsburgh Symphony, will open the program with Mozart’s “Haffner” symphony.

Midori will then perform Mendelssohn’s poetic and lyrical Violin Concerto, and the concert will conclude with Brahms’ triumphant Symphony No. 1.

Midori is one of the most acclaimed violinists of this generation.

In addition to performing at the highest levels internationally, she has also been recognized by the United Nations and the World Economic Forum for her commitment to education and community engagement in the United States, Europe, Asia and the developing world.

More recently, Midori has been making a commitment to the violin repertoire of the future, commissioning several new concerto and recital works.

In the last few seasons, Midori has added several new recordings to her catalog – a recording of Bach’s complete solo sonatas and partitas and a forthcoming release of the violin concerto DoReMi written for her by Peter Eotvos and recorded with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Midori is recognized as an extraordinary performer, an educator and a community engagement activist.

She was born in Japan, in 1971 and began studying the violin with her mother, Setsu Goto, at an early age.

Zubin Mehta first heard Midori play in 1982 and it was he who invited her to make her now-legendary debut – at the age of 11 – at the New York Philharmonic’s traditional New Year’s Eve concert, on which occasion she received a standing ovation and the impetus to begin her career.