92NY to Present Midori, Violin & Özgür Aydin, Piano in March

The 92nd Street Y, New York will present Midori, violin & Özgür Aydin, piano on Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 2pm ET on the David Geffen Stage at Kaufmann Concert Hall. Tickets start at $40 and are available now. 

One of the great artists of the violin world, Midori returns to the 92NY stage with pianist Özgür Aydin for a recital of music at the heart of her artistry. She opens with the New York premiere of a new work by Che Buford inspired by spirituals, followed by Brahms' beautiful Violin Sonata in G Major and Poulenc's Violin Sonata, with its touches of Parisian character. Celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth, the concert closes with a pair of pieces by Ravel, including one of Midori's signature works, the fiery Tzigane, which she performed in her recital debut over 30 years ago and continues to make her own.

Program:

CHE BUFORD Resonances of Spirit

BRAHMS Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78

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POULENC Sonata for Violin and Piano

RAVEL Kaddish (arr. L. Garban)

Tzigane

Midori is a visionary artist, activist and educator who explores and builds connections between music and the human experience. In the four decades since her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11, she has performed with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras and has collaborated with world-renowned musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, and many others.

This season, she premieres Resonances of Spirit, a new work written for her by Che Buford, in recital with pianist Özgür Aydin, and joins the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and other American orchestras. Outside the U.S., she performs with the Vienna Philharmonic under Andris Nelsons in Vienna and in Asia, and with both the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) and German National Youth Orchestra in two appearances at Berlin Philharmonic Hall.

As someone deeply committed to furthering humanitarian and educational goals, she has founded several non-profit organizations to bring music to children and underserved communities. In recognition of her work as an artist and humanitarian, she serves as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and in 2021, she was named a Kennedy Center Honoree.

Born in Osaka in 1971, she began her violin studies with her mother, Setsu Goto, at an early age. Midori is Artistic Director of Ravinia Steans Music Institute's Piano & Strings program and the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

Turkish-American pianist Özgür Aydin made his major concerto debut in 1997 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the same year, he won the renowned ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the Nippon Music Award in Tokyo-recognition that has since served as the basis for an active and diverse international performing career.

Aydin has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras in Germany and Turkey, as well as with the BBC Concert Orchestra London. Frequently invited to summer music festivals, he has appeared at Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Ravinia and Edinburgh. He is a guest at many prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Munich's Herkulessaal and Tokyo's Suntory Hall.

Aydin has made recordings of solo piano works by Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninoff. His performances of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas and 5 concertos as well as Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavierhave been highly praised by critics.

A dedicated chamber musician, he has enjoyed recurrent collaborations with violinists Midori and Kolja Blacher, cellist Clemens Hagen and members of the Berlin Philharmonic. A recording with Midori consisting of works by Bloch, Janacek and Shostakovich was released on Onyx Classics.