Anne Akiko Meyers
(born May 15, 1970) is celebrated as one of the world's premiere concert violinists known today for her impassioned performances, dedicated artistry and inspiring musicianship. The renowned soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator regularly performs in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe. She has sought to reach wider audiences by premiering new works written for her and showcase under-performed or rarely heard works with a quest for experimentation and open dialogue.
Meyers has been a regular guest at some of the most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, Suntory Hall, Sydney Opera House and a soloist with orchestras such as BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Budapest Festival Orchestra, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Minnesota Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Vienna Symphony and the Warsaw Philharmonic.
An avid supporter of contemporary composers, she has premiered works by David Baker, John Corigliano, Nathan Currier, Roddy Ellias, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Jennifer Higdon, Wynton Marsalis, Olivier Messiaen, Akira Miyoshi, Arvo Pärt, Manuel Maria Ponce, Somei Satoh, Teddy Shapiro, Joseph Schwantner, and Ezequiel Viñao.
Meyers asked Wynton Marsalis to write cadenzas for her in Mozart's Violin Concerto in G Major, #3 which she will premiere in Utah.
In 2008, Meyers was invited by UCLA as Regent's Lecturer in violin. This marked the first time in UCLA history to bestow this honor on a violinist.
Meyers will join the faculty of the Butler School of Music at University of Texas at Austin as Distinguished Artist and Professor of Violin.
|
ANNE AKIKO MEYERS TICKETS
|
Background
Meyers was born in San Diego, California. Raised in Southern California she studied with Shirley Helmick, and then went on to study with Alice and
Eleonore Schoenfeld at the
Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, CA. She then proceeded to study with
Josef Gingold at Indiana University and
Dorothy DeLay,
Felix Galimir and Masao Kawasaki at the
Juilliard School in New York City.
She has been interviewed saying that, as a child, she practiced her violin in the front seat of her family's VW Beetle as her mother drove more than three hours on the round trip to her violin lessons.
Early career
Meyers began studying the violin at age 4 and debuted with an orchestra at age 7. She was featured twice on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
and the Emmy Awards Show at the age of 11. She also performed with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic and made her debut with the
New York Philharmonic at age 12, with
Zubin Mehta conducting. At the age of 16 she signed with
ICM Artists and began touring and recording. Her first album in London was at the Abbey Road Studios featuring the Barber and Bruch Concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 18. Having signed an exclusive
RCA Red Seal contract at 21 years of age, she went on to record a comprehensive discography. At 23, she was awarded the prestigious
Avery Fisher Career Grant, the only artist to be the sole recipient of this annual award.
Today, she performs around the globe as a featured soloist and recitalist with the most recognized names in classical music and has performed for dignitaries including the Emperor and Empress of Japan.
Professional works
Meyers has recorded and published an extensive collection of music which can be found on the
Avie Records, Camerata,
Hyperion Records,
Naxos Records,
RCA Red Seal Records, RPO labels and Warner Classics Japan. Her debut disc, recorded at the age of 18, included the
Samuel Barber "Violin Concerto" and the
Max Bruch "Violin Concerto No.1" with Christopher Seaman and the
Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. RPO Records recorded the sonatas of Saint-Saëns and Fauré. Her RCA catalogue is comprehensive and includes Lalo's "Symphonie Espagnole" and Bruch's "Scottish Fantasy" with Jesus Lopez-Cobos and the Royal Philharmonic; the Franck and Strauss sonatas; the Felix Mendelssohn "Concerto in E minor" and a selection of other works with
Andrew Litton and the Philharmonia Orchestra and Prokofiev Violin Concertos with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under
Dmitri Kitajenko. Sonata albums include "Salut d’Amour" featuring many encore pieces with classic Japanese folksongs and an album featuring works by Copland, Ives, Piston, and David Baker with pianist André-Michel Schub.
She recorded works by
Debussy,
Messiaen,
Ravel, Satoh and Takemitsu for
Avie Records. Two works written expressly for Meyers include a live performance of the Somei Satoh Violin Concerto with Tetsuji Honna and the
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra on the Camerata label and 'Angelfire’ by Pulitzer-prize winning composer
Joseph Schwantner with
Andrew Litton and the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra on
Hyperion Records.
Naxos Records also released a performance of Jennifer Higdon's piano trio, featuring Meyers, live from the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and she recorded the Bruch Concerto live with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanawaza with Maestro Iwaki on Warner Classics Japan. Her newest album, 'Smile', was released on
Koch Records with Akira Eguchi, featuring pieces by
Harold Arlen,
Charlie Chaplin,
Olivier Messiaen,
Michio Miyagi,
Arvo Part,
Piazzolla,
Schubert, and
Rentaro Taki.
In early 2010, 'Dreams' will be released and feature works by
Beethoven,
Wagner,
Schnittke,
Debussy,
Vernon Duke and others.
Discography
2009
Smile, Koch Records (2008) Arlen, Chaplin, Miyagi, Part, Piazzolla, Messiaen, Schubert, Taki
2006
Jennifer Higdon Piano Trio (2003), Naxos Records
2006
Max Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 in g minor Live from Japan, Warner Classics
2006 ‘Angelfire’ (2001)
Joseph Schwantner ‘Fantasy’ for amplified violin and orchestra (Written for Ms. Meyers), Hyperion
2004 ‘Kisetsu’ (2002)
Somei Satoh Violin Concerto (Written for Ms. Meyers), Camerata Records
2004 'East Meets West' (Japanese/French Album), Avie Records
2003 ‘Smooth Classics’, ClassicFM Records
2001 ‘Romantic Violin’ RCA/BMG
2000 ‘Violin for Relaxation’ RCA/BMG
1999 ‘UltraSound’ Music for the Unborn Child, RCA/BMG
1997 '
Sergei Prokofiev Album' with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra/Kitajenko, RCA Red Seal
1997 '
Franz Schubert', NPR Records
1996 'American Album', RCA Red Seal
1996 ‘Classical Ecstasy’, RCA Red Seal
1995 ‘French Orchestral Works’, RCA
1994 ‘Salut d’Amour’, RCA Red Seal
1993
Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and other works with the Philharmonia Orchestra & Andrew Litton, RCA Red Seal
1993
Cesar Franck and
Richard Strauss Sonatas, RCA Red Seal
1992
Max Bruch and
Edouard Lalo Album with the RPO and Jesus Lopez-Cobos, RCA Red Seal
1989
Gabriel Fauré &
Camille Saint-Saëns Album, Canyon Classics
1988 Debut Disc-
Samuel Barber/
Max Bruch Concertos with the RPO and Christopher Seaman, Canyon Classics
Television and advertising credits
Meyers' television credits include an
A&E Networks telecast from the Casals Festival with the Montreal Symphony and
Krzysztof Penderecki, a
PBS broadcast with the Boston Pops Orchestra and John Williams and her appearances on
The Tonight Show
with
Johnny Carson and the "Emmy Award Show" attracted national attention. She was also featured performing with Keith Lockhart and the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Holland that attracted an audience of 10,000 and was globally broadcast live on the Internet. She also performed in front of 750,000 people in Sydney, Australia's Harbour, celebrating their 250th Bicentennial.
She has been featured in numerous print and television commercials (DDI,TDK,BS-1,Northwest Airlines) including being selected to be photographed by
Annie Leibovitz for the
Anne Klein "Women of Substance" fashion campaign that appeared in publications around the world.
References