Anne Akiko Meyers (born May 15, 1970) is an American concert violinist. Meyers was the top-selling classical instrumentalist of 2014 on Billboard's traditional classical charts.

Early life and education

The daughter of an artist and a college president, Meyers was born in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Her mother is of Japanese descent, and her father American. She was raised in Southern California, studied with Shirley Helmick, and then with Alice and

Eleonore Schoenfeld Eleonore Schoenfeld (March 6, 1925 – January 1, 2007) was an American musician, considered one of the most influential cellists of the 20th century. Biography Born in Maribor, Slovenia to a Polish father and a Russian mother, Schoenfeld m ...

at the preparatory division of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

Thornton School of Music The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los An ...

in Los Angeles. In 1980, the Thornton School of Music and its preparatory division ended their relationship, and the preparatory division moved locations and was renamed the

Colburn School The Colburn School is a private music school in Los Angeles with a focus on music and dance. It consists of four divisions: the Conservatory of Music, Music Academy, Community School of Performing Arts and the Dance Academy. It is located adjac ...

. She then studied with Josef Gingold at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

, and with Dorothy DeLay,

Felix Galimir Felix Galimir (May 20, 1910, Vienna – November 10, 1999, New York) was an Austrian-born American violinist and music teacher. Born in a Sephardic Jewish family Vienna; his first language was Ladino. Allan Kozinn,"Felix Galimir, 89, a Viol ...

, and Masao Kawasaki at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She graduated from Juilliard at age 20 and began touring internationally and recording.

Early career

Described as a child prodigy after her debut with a local community orchestra at the age of 7, she subsequently performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, twice on ''The Tonight Show'' with Johnny Carson at age 11, the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

Show and the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

at age 12. When she was 16, Meyers signed with ICM Artists and began touring and recording. She recorded her first album in London at the

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

, featuring the

Barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

and Bruch Concertos with the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

. After signing an

RCA Victor Red Seal RCA Red Seal is a classical music label whose origin dates to 1902 and is currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment. History The first "Gramophone Record Red Seal" discs were issued in 1901.Vieuxtemps Guarneri "del Gesu". She previously toured with a 1730

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ...

violin called the ''Royal Spanish'', and a 1697 Stradivarius called the ''

Molitor Stradivarius The Molitor Stradivarius is an antique violin made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona in 1697, the very beginning of the maker's celebrated "Golden" period. It bears the label "Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis / Faciebat Anno 1697" an ...

''. In her recording of Bach's Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, BWV 1043, she plays both parts—one part on the "Royal Spanish" and the other on the "Molitor."

Professional career

Meyers has performed as guest soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra,

Vienna Symphony The Vienna Symphony (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, german: Wiener Symphoniker) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna. Its primary concert venue is the Konzerthaus, Vienna, Vienna Konzerthaus. In Vienna, the orchestra also performs at the Musikv ...

, and

Orchestre de Paris The Orchestre de Paris () is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra currently performs most of its concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris. History In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du ...

. She also has played solo recitals in

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

, the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

, and

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

. Meyers collaborated with the singer

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin
, The Jewish Historical Society of New Haven, 1998. (born February 26, 1953), known professio ...

. She was also the special guest violinist in

Il Divo Il Divo (; ) are a multi-national classical crossover vocal group. The male quartet, which originated in the United Kingdom in December 2003, consists of tenors Urs Bühler, David Miller, and Sébastien Izambard. It also included bariton ...

's Christmas Tour 2009 and toured with jazz and pop trumpeter

Chris Botti Christopher Stephen Botti ( ; born October 12, 1962) is an award-winning American trumpeter and composer. In 2013, Botti won the Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category, for the album ''Impressions''. He was also nominated in ...

in 2010. On September 11, 2015, Naïve Classiques released "Passacaglia" Works for violin and orchestra by Arvo Pärt with

MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra The MDR-Sinfonieorchester (in English, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra) is a German radio orchestra based in Leipzig. It is the radio orchestra of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, the public broadcaster for the German states of Thuringia, Saxony ...

(

Kristjan Jarvi Kristjan is a masculine given name in the Estonian language and Slovenian language. It is a variation of the name Christian. Notable people named Kristjan include: * Kristjan Čujec (born 1988), Slovenian futsal player * Kristjan Fajt (born 1 ...

conducting), in celebration of Pärt's 80th birthday. ''The Engagements'' written by novelist

J. Courtney Sullivan Julie Courtney Sullivan (born 1982), better known as J. Courtney Sullivan, is an American novelist and former writer for ''The New York Times''. Biography Sullivan grew up outside Boston, Massachusetts. She attended Smith College in Northampt ...

is loosely based on Meyers's career; it was one of

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

's Top 10 Books of the Year in 2014. Meyers also played the violinist character, Violetta, in ''Crumpet the Trumpet'' by children's book author and illustrator, Kristine Papillon. Meyers' recording of

Einojuhani Rautavaara Einojuhani Rautavaara (; 9 October 1928 – 27 July 2016) was a Finnish composer of classical music. Among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Rautavaara wrote a great number of works spanning various styles. ...

's ''Fantasia'' was the only classical instrumental work included by NPR in their list of 100 best songs of 2017.

Commissions and premieres

Works written expressly for Meyers include the

Somei Satoh is a Japanese composer of contemporary music. His compositions mix Japanese court music with European romanticism and electronic music. His musical career began with an experimental, mix media group called "Tone Field" in Tokyo. He studied at ...

Violin Concerto, recorded live with Tetsuji Honna and the

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra The , also known as Tokyō (都響), is one of the representative symphony orchestras of Japan. The Orchestra was founded in 1965 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, to commemorate the Tokyo Olympics (1964 Summer Olympics). Currently Kazushi ...

in 2002, and ''Angelfire'' by

Joseph Schwantner Joseph Clyde Schwantner (born March 22, 1943, Chicago, Illinois) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2002. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize. Schwantne ...

, premiered live in 2002 at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

conducted by

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop ( �mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...

and recorded in 2004 with

Andrew Litton Andrew Litton (born May 16, 1959, New York City) is an American orchestral conductor. Litton is a graduate of The Fieldston School. He studied piano with Nadia Reisenberg and conducting with Sixten Ehrling at the Juilliard School of Music in New Y ...

and the

Dallas Symphony Orchestra The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Dallas, Texas. Its principal performing venue is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas. History The orchestra traces its origins to a ...

. Meyers asked the jazz star

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Award ...

to write cadenzas for her in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, which she premiered with the

Utah Symphony Orchestra The Utah Symphony is an American orchestra based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The orchestra's principal venue is Abravanel Hall. In addition to its Salt Lake City subscription concerts, the orchestra travels around the Intermountain West serving c ...

in 2009. Meyers commissioned

Mason Bates Mason Wesley Bates (born January 23, 1977) is a Grammy award-winning American composer of symphonic music and DJ of electronic dance music. He is the first composer-in-residence of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and he has also bee ...

to write his first violin concerto, and she performed in the world premiere with

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

and the

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra The ''Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra'' (''PSO'') is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District. History The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an America ...

in December 2012. It was later recorded with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

under

and released on Meyers' 2014 album, ''The American Masters''. She has performed the work with the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure ...

, Detroit Symphony Orchestra,

Orchestre National de Lyon The Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL) is a French orchestra based in Lyon. Its primary concert venue is l'Auditorium de Lyon. The orchestra operates with the help of a subsidy from the French Ministry of Culture and from the Rhône-Alpes regional ...

, and

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Symph ...

. On September 30, 2014, Meyers released ''The American Masters'', which includes two world premieres: Mason Bates's Violin Concerto and the ''Lullaby for Natalie'' by John Corigliano, written for the birth of her first-born daughter, Natalie. The album also includes Samuel Barber's

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

. Meyers appeared in a nationwide PBS broadcast special aired in fall 2015 featuring the world premiere of Samuel Jones' Violin Concerto with the

All-Star Orchestra All-Star Orchestra is an orchestral music project created by Gerard Schwarz, former music director and conductor laureate of Seattle Symphony. It is a television and DVD project, filmed by 18 high definition video cameras without an audience for ...

led by

Gerard Schwarz Gerard Schwarz (born August 19, 1947), also known as Gerry Schwarz or Jerry Schwarz, is an American symphony conductor and trumpeter. As of 2019, Schwarz serves as the Artistic and Music Director of Palm Beach Symphony and the Director of Orche ...

. The performance was also part of a

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

DVD. In September 2015, Meyers released ''Serenade: The Love Album'', her 34th album, featuring

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

's epic Serenade. Meyers commissioned seven arrangers including

Adam Schoenberg Adam Schoenberg (born November 15, 1980) is an American composer. A member of the Atlanta School of Composers, his works have been performed by numerous orchestras and ensembles in the U.S. Schoenberg was the 2010-2012 guest composer for the As ...

, Brad Dechter,

J.A.C. Redford Jonathan Alfred Clawson Redford (born July 14, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor. He is also the author of ''Welcome All Wonders: A Composer's Journey''. Artistic development A wide variety of musical influenc ...

and

Steven Mercurio Steven Mercurio (born 1956, Bardonia, New York (state), New York) is an American conductor and composer. Early life and education Mercurio was raised in New York and is of Italian descent. For most of his adolescence, he gravitated towards rock an ...

to arrange ten love-inspired works from classic movies and the American Songbook. The seven arrangers were chosen to resemble the seven philosophers of Plato's Symposium, which Bernstein's ''Serenade'' is based on. The album was recorded with the

with

Keith Lockhart Keith Alan Lockhart (born November 7, 1959) is an American conductor. He is the Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Artistic Director of the Brevard Music Center in North Caro ...

conducting. Meyers performed the posthumous world premiere of ''Fantasia'' by Einojuhani Rautavaara, written for her, with the

Kansas City Symphony The Kansas City Symphony (KCS) is a United States symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The current music director is conductor Michael Stern. The Symphony performs at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 1601 Br ...

conducted by Michael Stern in March 2017. Meyers met Rautavaara at his home in December 2015 to play the work for him. He died in July 2016 before its first public performance nearly a year later. Adam Schoenberg's first violin concerto, ''Orchard in Fog'', written for Meyers, was premiered by her with the

San Diego Symphony The San Diego Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in San Diego, California. The orchestra is resident at Copley Symphony Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for the San Diego Opera. History On December 6th 1910, th ...

and conductor Sameer Patel in February 2018. The Violin Channel live-streamed the performance, acquiring the most views of any live video on the website to date. In May 2020, Meyers released the world premiere recording of Arvo Pärt's ''Estonian Lullaby'' for violin and piano, which was dedicated to her. She also released an accompanying animated watercolor video, produced in collaboration with Skazka Studios. In July 2021, Meyers premiered John Corigliano's new cadenzas to Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 at the

Brevard Music Center Brevard Music Center is a classical music venue and festival held annually located in Brevard, North Carolina. It has been the home to their international summer institute and festival that enrolls about four hundred students, age fourteen and o ...

with conductor

. The next month, in August 2021, Meyers gave the world premiere of Arturo Marquez's violin concerto, ''Fandango'', at the

with

Gustavo Dudamel Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist who is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera. Early life Dudamel was ...

''Billboard'' charts

''Air – The Bach Album'' debuted at No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' charts on its release on February 14, 2012. It featured "Bach Double" played on two different Stradivarius violins. Meyers' performance of ''The Vivaldi Four Seasons Album'' debuted at No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' charts when released on February 14, 2014. Meyers was the top-selling classical instrumentalist of 2014 on ''Billboard''s traditional classical charts.

Discography

The following releases feature Meyers on violin.

Music videos

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widesprea ...

Triple Concerto – Anne Akiko Meyers Performs all 3 Parts *Summer from Vivaldi's Four Seasons *Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons *On the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson at age 11

Awards and honors

In 1993 at the age of 23, Meyers was the sole recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, which is awarded by

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

to up to five promising young artists each year. In 2006, she served as a panelist, recitalist, and teacher at the Juilliard School's Starling-DeLay Symposium. In May 2008,

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

invited her to be the Regent's Lecturer in violin. In late 2009, Meyers joined the Butler School of Music at

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

as Distinguished Artist and Professor of Violin. In September 2015, she was honored with a Luminary Award by the Pasadena Symphony for her long-standing support of that orchestra.

Personal life

Meyers lives with her husband and two daughters in Los Angeles, California.

References

External links

*
Colbert Artists page for Anne Akiko Meyers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyers, Anne Akiko American classical violinists Child classical musicians American classical musicians of Japanese descent 1970 births Living people Women classical violinists American people of Jewish descent American women musicians of Japanese descent 21st-century American women musicians Classical musicians from California 21st-century classical violinists 21st-century American violinists