Guest ArtistsKaren Gomyo, violin

Recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2008, violinist Karen Gomyo has been hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a first-rate artist of real musical command, vitality, brilliance and intensity” and by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as “captivating, honest and soulful, fueled by abundant talent but not a vain display of technique.”

Ms. Gomyo has established herself in recent years as a much in demand soloist internationally, performing with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra. Outside of the United States, she has appeared with the Danish National Symphony, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony and Sydney Symphony.

In February 2015 she performed the North American premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the National Symphony of Washington D.C. under the composer’s baton. Other 2014-15 highlights included returns to the Cleveland Orchestra, the Toronto, Detroit, Oregon, Vancouver Symphony orchestras as well as a return to Australia, making her debuts with the Melbourne Symphony, the Tasmanian Symphony and the New Zealand Symphony. She also made her debuts with the Staatsoper Hannover, Radiofonieorchester Stuttgart, Aalborg Symfoniorkester, Argovia Philharmonic (Switzerland) and the Taipei Symphony.

Future engagements include debuts with the Bamberger Symphoniker and Aarhus Symfoniorkerter, a return to the Hong Kong Philharmonic with its music director Jaap Van Zweden as well as returns to the St. Louis, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Milwaukee and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras. She will also perform in a two-week residency in Brazil with the Orchestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo and Marin Alsop, and then later the New Zealand Symphony with its new music director Edo de Waart. In July 2015 she tours Australia with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

In recital and chamber music, Ms. Gomyo has performed in festivals throughout the United States and Europe. Her chamber music partners have included Leif Ove Andsnes, Olli Mustonen, Kathryn Stott, Juho Pohjonen, Heinrich Schiff, Christian Poltéra, Alisa Weilerstein, Lynn Harrell, Jörg Widmann, Isabelle Van Keulen and Benjamin Schmid. During the summer of 2015 she performs a recital with guitarist Ismo Eskelinen at the Mainzer Musiksommers Festival in Germany as well as recitals with pianist Christian Ihle Hadland in festivals in Denmark. She also returns to the Moritzburg Festival in Germany, Delft Festival in Holland, Musiktage Mondsee in Austria and Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Ms. Gomyo has worked with such conductors as Sir Andrew Davis, Leonard Slatkin, Neeme Järvi, David Robertson, David Zinman, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Louis Langrée, Thomas Dausgaard, James Gaffigan, Pinchas Zukerman, Heinrich Schiff, Hannu Lintu, Vasily Petrenko, Pietari Inkinen, Joshua Weilerstein, Jakub Hrusa, Cristian Macelaru, Gilbert Varga and Mark Wigglesworth.

The recent NHK-produced documentary film The Mysteries of the Supreme Violin, about Stradivarius and in which Gomyo was violinist, guide and narrator, was broadcast worldwide on NHK WORLD.

Ms. Gomyo is deeply interested in the Nuevo Tango music of Astor Piazzolla, and has an ongoing project with Piazzolla’s longtime pianist, tango legend Pablo Ziegler, and his partners Hector del Curto (bandoneon), Claudio Ragazzi (electric guitar) and Pedro Giraudo (double bass). She also performs regularly with the Finnish guitarist Ismo Eskelinen in a unique duo program. A recording with Mr. Eskelinen is planned for 2015.

Karen Gomyo plays on the “Aurora, ex-Foulis” Stradivarius violin of 1703 that was bought for her exclusive use by a private sponsor.