Midori (real name, Goto Mi Dori)

Midori (real name, Goto Mi Dori), outstanding Japanese violinist; b. Osaka, Oct. 25, 1971. She studied with her mother, Setsu Goto; in 1981, went to the U.S., where she took violin lessons with Dorothy DeLay at the Aspen (Colo.) Music School and continued her training with that mentor at N.Y.’s Juilliard School. She attracted the attention of Zubin Mehta when she was 10 years old; he subsequently engaged her as a soloist with the N.Y. Phil., with which she traveled on an extensive Asian tour that included Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Thailand, and her native Japan. There followed concerts with the Berlin Phil., the Boston Sym. Orch., the Chicago Sym. Orch., the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchs., the Los Angeles Phil., the London Sym. Orch., and other European and American orchs., in programs that included not only classical concertos but also modern works, under the direction of such renowned conductors, besides Mehta, as Bernstein, Previn, Maazel, Dohnányi, Leppard, and Barenboim. She also attracted the attention of popular television programs, and appeared as a guest of President and Mrs. Reagan at the White House during the NBC-TV special Christmas in Washington (1983). Most importantly, she won the admiration of orch. members for her remarkable artistic dependability. On one occasion, when a string broke on the concertmaster’s violin during an orch. introduction, she demonstrated her sangfroid; since she had a few minutes to spare before her entrance as a soloist, she handed her own violin to the player and coolly changed the broken string in time to continue the performance without pause. On Oct. 21, 1990, she made her N.Y. recital debut at Carnegie Hall. In 1992 she created the Midori Foundation to promote the cause of classical music

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire