Midori Goto un-revealed: Acclaimed violinist maintains privacy amid fame

Famed violinist Midori will perform with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Thursday and Friday, Jan. 27 and 28.

Trying to understand just who Midori Goto is and what makes her tick proved to be no easy task.

A Google search turns up virtually nothing about the internationally acclaimed violinist - who will perform with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra on Thursday and Friday at the Tennessee Theatre - that isn't generated or influenced by her publicity machinery. There are no independent, in-depth profiles from which one can extract important clues.

On one side is the Midori, as her website reveals in detail, who dedicates substantial time to music education and cultural awareness among young people around the world. She is a United Nations Ambassador for Peace. It's a role for which she is ideally suited since she is both a master musician and has no problematic social and political footprints.

On the other is the single-name, showbiz persona that is not unlike the pop culture constructions of Liberace, Cher and Bono.

She maintains this facade by requiring that one submit written e-mail questions, to which she gives only cursory answers. A conversational interview may or may not follow.

I began my inquiries by noting that when Midori first performed with the KSO, at the age of 14, KSO conductor Kirk Trevor believed that when she began to play she took on the spirit of a much older performer; perhaps a great violinist of the past.

I asked Midori if she felt a particular connection to the spirit of one of the great violinists. I was hoping for, maybe, a Shinto-type response about what one's musical ancestors contribute to one's awareness.

Midori replied "There is no single violinist with whom I feel a special affinity. I am fortunate to have met many wonderful and brilliant people during the course of my career."

Next I noted that there is a widely held view that many of the top soloists only put real energy into their performances when they are playing in New York or with one of the major orchestras. There is where they play with flashy virtuosity - a kind of "look what I can do" situation in which there is lots of fireworks but little musical soul.

She replied that she is "sorry to hear about this view on our performances."

Finally I noted that music is language communicated by other means, and I asked how she sees music.

Midori replied, "I see music as is. Music can have many different meanings … but what it actually is (is) circumstantial and situational at any given point and time."

Given how Midori shields herself from in-depth public view, it's interesting that she will be playing Felix Mendelssohn's "Concerto in E Minor for Violin and Orchestra," Op.64. Mendelssohn grew up in an affluent family that could afford to maintain a safe distance from social and political entanglements.

Written in 1845 when Mendelssohn was only 28, it would have never occurred to him to write anything that took a political or social position.

But the two works on the program surrounding the Mendelssohn do exactly that.

Lucas Richman's 2008 composition "A Time for Heroes" is based on the incredible human strength and spirit of the people raised in Appalachian culture.

Richard Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 (A Hero's Life)" egotistically presents the composer as the hero to be admired.

One may never know what motivates Midori's Mendelssohn, but one hopes it will be spectacular.

Harold Duckett is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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