Global matters vie for violinist's time

By Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Friday, December 7, 2007

Midori Goto

As a little girl, Midori Goto joined the ranks of numerous fiddling prodigies who'd come before her. Then, on one magical night, she separated herself from the pack, making international headlines at age 15 when she seemed unfazed by two broken strings on two violins at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein on the podium.

Now she's in her mid-30s, and a lot has changed. She still plays violin with the best of them, as will be obvious when she is soloist in the Tchaikovsky Concerto this weekend with the Colorado Symphony.

But Midori (as the world knows her) has become an important figure outside the concert hall. The list of her charity and education work is as lengthy as it is impressive.

How does she manage to remain an important presence as a performer while working as an educator and a voice for music and peace?

"I've always felt that music finds its natural place within people and should not be restricted to a specific physical place," she said. "It is vital that today's musicians become proactive in advocating for music and the arts."

To put this philosophy into action, she formed an education program in Japan, Music Sharing, that has since expanded to other countries. Last year, the program took her to Vietnam, a trip she described as "life-changing (and) I mean that without any cliche or exaggeration. We visited schools, hospitals, orphanages and shared our music with the children, and they shared their own music with us.

"We performed under the warmth of human affections and experienced the purest joy of music."

Shortly after her Denver engagement, she'll pack her bags and head to Cambodia for more sharing.

That trip is separate from activities she'll soon be formulating in conjunction with her appointment as a Messenger of Peace, one of 10 so honored by United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon. Midori said she'll promote the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals.

"I anticipate that working in this new capacity will bring about new, broader ways of sharing music with others around the world."

And let's not forget that, for four years, she has headed the strings department at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. In fact, a phone interview was delayed while she ironed out some departmental business. "The time I spend with those students is very precious," she said.

Not given to a lot of words in conversation, the violinist speaks of a high-profile life in music that extends naturally to sharing that passion and talent with the world.

"I'm an ambassador for music," she said. "My activities embody my work as an ambassador."

It almost seems silly, then, to discuss such matters as the playing of Tchaikovsky's beloved Concerto, but Midori is happy to oblige. Is there anything left to say in this warhorse?

"My music reflects what is going on in my life at that moment, as well as drawing from past experiences," she said. "Though I have known the Tchaikovsky for many years, there are new discoveries in every playing."

She shrugs off a remark that her life must be nonstop and exhausting. "I know my schedule seems chaotic," she said, "but I do take the necessary downtime whenever I can - to bake treats for my students, read a good book or have dinner with friends." She also boasted that she'd recently learned how to drive.

Rather than wax poetic about her multifaceted musical endeavors, Midori puts it in the simplest of words: "I love to live," she said.

Colorado Symphony

* When and where: 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Boettcher Hall, 14th and Curtis streets

* Cost: $15 to $69.50

* Information: 303-623-7876

* Of note: Jeffrey Kahane leads the CSO and CSO Chorus in Christopher Theofandis' Rainbow Body and Vivaldi's Gloria, plus Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto (with Midori as soloist).