Anne Akiko Meyers

Anne Akiko Meyers is hailed as one of the world’s premiere concert violinists, regularly performing in the United States, Europe and Asia. Ms. Meyers first performed with a local orchestra at the age of 7, then burst into national prominence at age 11, when she performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and appeared twice on ‘The Tonight Show’ with Johnny Carson. The following year she made her New York Philharmonic debut with Zubin Mehta conducting. She was soon performing throughout the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe and by the time her first CD was released at 18, she was recognized as one of the stars of her generation.  Ms. Meyers has been the featured soloist at virtually every top classical venue, including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Suntory Hall, and Sydney’s Opera House.

Ms. Meyers has sought to reach wider audiences by premiering new works written for her and showcasing under performed works with a quest for experimentation and open dialogue. This season, Ms. Meyers will record a highly anticipated new album entitled ‘Smile’ for Koch Records with pianist, Akira Eguchi. Due for international release in January 2009, it will feature works by Charlie Chaplin, Michio Miyagi, Arvo Part, Astor Piazzolla and Franz Schubert as well as the world premiere of a fantasy  by Messiaen. Ms. Meyers has premiered works by David Baker, John Corigliano, Nathan Currier, Roddy Ellias, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Jennifer Higdon, Arvo Part, Manuel Ponce, Somei Satoh, Teddy Shapiro, Joseph Schwantner, and Ezequiel Viñao.

International dates include performances with U.K.’s Birmingham Symphony with Andrew Litton conducting and a return to the BBC Scottish Symphony. She will return to Japan this fall for a recital tour and to perform Akira Miyoshi’s ‘En Passant’ and the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Japan Philharmonic at Suntory Hall and plays Bernstein’s ‘Serenade’ at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo celebrating what would be his 90th birthday, this coming summer. Ms. Meyers will also return to South America and make appearances at the Cartagena Music Festival in Colombia and in the U.S. she will be performing with many American orchestras.

Recent performances include the Staatsphilharmonie Rhineland in Germany, Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Miyazaki Festival, and a tour of Holland with the North Netherlands Orchestra performing the Beethoven Concerto with specially written cadenzas by DJ/electronica composer, Mason Bates. In the U.S., Ms. Meyers performed with the Colorado Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Spokane Symphony and many other orchestras.

She has been a regular guest at some of the most prestigious orchestras and venues including Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Tanglewood, BBC Scottish Symphony, Boston Symphony, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, l'Orchestre de Paris, Minnesota Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, National Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo's NHK Symphony, Toronto Symphony and the Vienna Symphony.

Anne Akiko Meyers’ extensive discography can be found on the Avie, Camerata, Hyperion, Naxos, RCA Victor Red Seal, RPO and Sony BMG labels. Her debut disc, at the age of 18, included the Barber Violin Concerto and the Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 with Christopher Seaman and the Royal Philharmonic 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 Mendelssohn Concerto and a selection of other works with Andrew Litton and the Philharmonia Orchestra and Prokofiev Violin Concertos with the Frankfurt RadioSymphony with 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 also recently recorded works by Debussy, Messiaen, Ravel, Satoh and Takemitsu for the AVIE label. Two works written expressly for Ms. Meyers include a live performance of the Somei Satoh Violin Concerto with Tetsuji Honna and the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra on the Camerata label and Angelfire  by Pulitzer-prize winning composer Joseph Schwantner with Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on Hyperion. Naxos also released a performance of Jennifer Higdon's piano trio, featuring Ms. Meyers, live from the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Ms. Meyers also recorded Bruch’s Concerto No.1 live with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, with Hiroyuki Iwaki conducting, for Warner Classics Japan.

Ms. Meyers' numerous television credits include an A&E Network 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 and has performed for dignitaries including the Emperor and Empress of Japan.

She has been featured in numerous print and television commercials including being selected to be photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Anne Klein’s “Women of Substance” fashion campaign that appeared in magazines around the world. Recently, she was featured on the cover of the popular U.K. based magazine, ‘Muso’ and appears in ads for Thomastik-Infeld’s Vision Titanium strings, for whom she is an endorsing artist.

Ms. Meyers studied with Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, Josef Gingold at Indiana University, and Felix Galimir, Masao Kawasaki and Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School. At 23, she was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, the only artist to be the sole recipient of this annual award. Recently, she was invited by the University of California, Los Angeles, to host a special 2 week residency as Regent’s Lecturer. This marked the first time in their musical history to bestow this honor on a violinist. An active participant in community outreach programs across the U.S. and Japan, Ms. Meyers gives regular masterclasses and was a panelist at the Juilliard hosted Starling-DeLay Symposium.

She performs on the “Royal Spanish” Antonius Stradivarius violin, dated 1730, that once belonged to the King of Spain.