Brian Lewis, Artistic Director
The Starling Distinguished Violinist Series presents Anne Akiko Meyers, violin, and Akira Eguchi, piano

Polished artistry. Exquisite technique. Inspiring sensitivity. This is Anne Akiko Meyers, who is celebrated as one of the world’s premiere concert violinists known today. The renowned soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator regularly performs throughout the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe. She has reached wider audiences by premiering new works written for her and showcase under-performed or rarely heard music with a quest for experimentation and open dialogue. She has been chosen to premiere a number of works by composers such as David Baker, Mason Bates, John Corigliano, Nathan Currier, Roddy Ellias, Judd Greenstein, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Jennifer Higdon, Arvo Part, Manuel Ponce, Somei Satoh, Teddy Shapiro, Joseph Schwantner, and Ezequiel Viñao. Starting her studies at age 4, she first performed with a local orchestra at the age of 7, then burst into national prominence at age 11, when she twice performed on ‘The Tonight Show’ with Johnny Carson and appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 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 debut disc of the Barber and Bruch violin concertos was released at age 18, she was recognized as one of the stars of her generation. This season, Meyers launches a highly anticipated new album entitled ‘Smile’ for Koch Records with pianist, Akira Eguchi. It will feature special arrangements of works like ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Smile’ and Astor Piazzolla’s Tangos. Also included will be ‘Moonlight Over the Ruined Castle’ by Rentaro Taki and ‘Sea in Spring’ by Michio Miyagi as well as the premiere of ‘Fantaisie’ by Olivier Messiaen, Arvo Part’s meditative ‘Spiegel im Spiegel’ and the Schubert Fantasy. Meyers recently collaborated with jazz legend, Wynton Marsalis who has written new cadenzas for Mozart’s G Major violin concerto for her. This season, international dates include performances with U.K.’s Birmingham Symphony, a return to the BBC Scottish Symphony and a return tour throughout Poland and Spain with the Karlowicz Concerto. Recently, Meyers toured Japan and performed Akira Miyoshi’s ‘En Passant’ and the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Japan Philharmonic at Suntory Hall and Bernstein’s ‘Serenade’ at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, celebrating what would have been Maestro Bernstein’s 90th birthday. In early 2009, Anne returns to South America and makes appearances at the Cartagena Music Festival in Colombia. Meyers has been a regular guest at some of the most prestigious orchestras and venues including Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Tanglewood, Boston Symphony, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, l’Orchestre de Paris, Minnesota Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, 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. Her extensive discography is available on the Avie, BMG/Sony, Canyon Classics, Camerata, Hyperion, Naxos and Warner Classics labels. View her discography on Amazon and iTunes. Ms.Meyers has numerous television credits including 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 in a performance 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. This is viewable on YouTube. Ms.Meyers 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. Meyers has been featured in numerous print and television commercials including Anne Klein’s “Women of Substance” fashion campaign that appeared in magazines around the world and was photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Recently, she appears in ads for Thomastik-Infeld’s Vision Titanium strings, for whom she is an endorsing artist. Meyers was born in San Diego, California and grew up in the Los Angeles area before heading to New York. She studied with Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, Josef Gingold at Indiana University, and Felix Galimir, Masao Kawasaki and Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School. At age 23, she was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, the only artist to be the sole recipient of this annual prize. Recently, she was the first violinist to be named Regent’s Lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles. An active participant in community outreach programs across the U.S. and Japan, Meyers enjoys giving masterclasses, was a panelist at the Juilliard hosted Starling-DeLay Symposium and is an adjudicator for competitions. Anne performs on the “Royal Spanish” Antonio Stradivarius violin, dated 1730, that once belonged to the King of Spain.