Anne Akiko Meyers
Anne Akiko Meyers is celebrated as one of the world’s premiere concert violinists, the renowned soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist is known as one of the most diverse artists. Meyers has been described as a ‘trailblazing violinist’, one who is constantly ‘charting her own course’ and the American Record Guide is quoted as saying, ‘through her peerless mastery and vivid imagination there seems to be no limit to the colors she can draw from her instrument.’
In recent seasons, she has collaborated with top jazz artists such as Chris Botti, pop singing sensation, Il Divo and jazz legend, Wynton Marsalis, who composed cadenzas for her in Mozart’s G Major Violin Concerto and performed the National Anthem to 42,000 fans at Safeco Field before the Mariners-Red Sox game in Seattle.
In September, eOne Records released ‘Seasons…dreams’, which features music with harp and piano and includes several world premieres. This recording and ‘Smile’, which was released in 2009, both topped the Billboard charts. Last year Anne was featured on MSNBC’s ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann’ on a segment that was so popular it was named the #3 story of 2010. In October, Sony releases Anne’s performances with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and several recital programs exclusively on iTunes.
Meyers will perform across North America, Europe, Korea, and Japan, including the Saint Louis Symphony, Dusseldorf Symphoniker, Korean Broadcasting Symphony and the Osaka Philharmonic. Meyers also records a Bach album with the English Chamber Orchestra with Steven Mercurio conducting, due for release in the spring of 2012.
Meyers’ extensive discography can be found on the Avie, Camerata, eOne/Koch, Hyperion, Naxos, RCA Victor Red Seal, RPO, Sony and Warner Classics labels. View her discography on Amazon and iTunes.
Actively performing and commissioning new works regularly, she has premiered works by composers such as David Baker, Mason Bates, Jakub Ciupinski, John Corigliano, Roddy Ellias, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Jennifer Higdon, Wynton Marsalis, Olivier Messiaen, Akira Miyoshi, Arvo Part, Manuel Ponce, Gene Pritsker, Somei Satoh, and Joseph Schwantner.
Meyers has been a regular guest at the world’s most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, Suntory Hall and the Sydney Opera House. She has been the featured soloist with the Boston Symphony, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, 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, Vienna Symphony and the Warsaw Philharmonic.
Meyers’ television credits include an A&E Network telecast from the Casals Festival with the Montreal Symphony, 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 the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Holland that attracted an audience of 10,000 and was globally broadcast live on the Internet. Meyers also performed in front of 750,000 people in Sydney, Australia’s Harbour, celebrating their 200th 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.
Starting her studies at age 4, she first performed with a local orchestra at the age of 7, then burst into 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, and was soon performing throughout the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe. By the time her debut disc of the Barber and Bruch violin concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was released at age 18, she was recognized as one of the stars of her generation.
Meyers was born in San Diego, California and grew up in Southern California. 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.
Anne performs on the ‘Ex-Napoleon/Molitor’ Stradivarius violin from 1697 which she recently acquired. Meyers also owns the ‘Royal Spanish’ Stradivarius violin dated 1730.
