About this Artist
Anne Akiko Meyers is one of the world’s most esteemed violinists and been described as “a musical wizard, with astonishing access to every kind of expressive color”. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Anne Akiko Meyers is one of the most respected and admired violinists, collaborating with today’s most important composers, championing their work and creating a remarkable legacy of new violin repertoire for future generations. Since her teens, she has performed around the world as soloist with leading orchestras and in recital and is a prolific recording artist with more than 40 releases, which are staples of classical music radio stations and streaming platforms.
Her 2023-24 season highlights include performances of the Philip Glass Concerto No.1 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and the Prague Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the world premiere of a requiem by Billy Childs with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, NPR’s popular Tiny Desk series and a residency at the Laguna Beach Music Festival where Anne is this year’s artistic director. Future commissions include a work for violin and orchestra by Eric Whitacre and New Chaconne by Philip Glass.
Anne recently premiered and performed Fandango by Arturo Márquez with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at The Hollywood Bowl, and Blue Electra by Michael Daugherty at The Kennedy Center with Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra to massive critical and audience acclaim.
In September 2023, Apple Music will be releasing the highly anticipated live recording of Arturo Márquez’s Fandango with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Last season highlights included appearances with the Los Angeles, National, Albany, Detroit, Nashville, Princeton, San Diego, San Jose, Tucson, and Wichita Symphony Orchestras. She premiered Fandango at Carnegie Hall (WQXR’s live broadcast is available on demand), Disney Hall, and in Mexico City on tour with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She released Mysterium, a recording of newly imagined violin/choral music by J.S. Bach and Morten Lauridsen, with Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Shining Night, her 40th recording, which features world premieres and new arrangements of music by J.S. Bach, Brouwer, Corelli, Ellington, Piazzolla, Ponce, and Lauridsen, with pianist Fabio Bidini and guitarist Jason Vieaux.
Anne has worked closely with some of the most important composers of the last century, including Arvo Pärt (Estonian Lullaby), Einojuhani Rautavaara (Fantasia, his final complete work), John Corigliano (cadenzas for the Beethoven Violin Concerto; Lullaby for Natalie), Arturo Márquez (Fandango), Michael Daugherty (Blue Electra), Mason Bates and Adam Schoenberg (violin concertos), Jakub Ciupiński, Jennifer Higdon, Samuel Jones, Morten Lauridsen, Wynton Marsalis, Akira Miyoshi, Gene Pritsker, Somei Satoh, and Joseph Schwantner, performing world premieres with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Nashville, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Seattle, Washington D.C., Helsinki, Hyogo, Leipzig, London, Lyon, and New Zealand.
Anne’s first national television appearances were on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson at the age 11, and later performances include Evening At Pops with John Williams, CBS Sunday Morning, Great Performances, Countdown with Keith Olbermann (in a segment that was the third most popular story of that year), The Emmy Awards, and The View. John Williams personally chose Anne to perform Schindler’s List for a Great Performances PBS telecast and Arvo Pärt invited her to be his guest soloist at the opening ceremony concerts of his new centre and concert hall in Estonia. Krzysztof Penderecki selected Meyers to perform the Beethoven Violin Concerto at the 40th Pablo Casals Festival with the Montreal Symphony that was broadcast on A&E, and Meyers premiered Samuel Jones's Violin Concerto with the All-Star Orchestra led by Gerard Schwarz in a nationwide PBS broadcast special and a Naxos DVD release. Her recording of Somei Satoh's Birds in Warped Time II was used by architect Michael Arad for his award-winning design submission which today has become The World Trade Center Memorial in lower Manhattan.
Career highlights include a performance of the Barber Violin Concerto at the Australian Bicentennial Concert for an audience of 750,000 in Sydney Harbour; performances for the Emperor and Empress Akihito of Japan; Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in a Museumplein Concert with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; and the national anthem at T-Mobile Park in Seattle and Dodger Stadium. She was profiled on NPR’s Morning Edition with Linda Wertheimer and All Things Considered with Robert Siegel, and she curated “Living American” on Sirius XM Radio’s Symphony Hall.
Anne has been featured in commercials and advertising campaigns including Anne Klein, shot by legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz; J.Jill; Northwest Airlines; DDI Japan; and TDK; and was the inspiration for the main character’s career path in the novel, The Engagements, written by popular author, J. Courtney Sullivan. She collaborated with children’s book author and illustrator, Kristine Papillon, on Crumpet the Trumpet, appearing as the character Violetta the violinist, and featured in a documentary about legendary radio personality, Jim Svejda. Outside of traditional classical, Anne has collaborated with a diverse array of artists including jazz icons Chris Botti and Wynton Marsalis; avant-garde musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto; electronic music pioneer, Isao Tomita; pop-era act, Il Divo; and singer, Michael Bolton.
Anne was born in San Diego and grew up in Southern California where she and her mother traveled 8 hours roundtrip from the Mojave Desert to Pasadena for lessons with Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld at the predecessor to the Colburn School of Performing Arts. Anne moved to New York at the age of 14 to study at The Juilliard School with legendary teacher, Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki, and Felix Galimir; signed with management at 16; and recorded her debut album of the Barber and Bruch Violin Concertos with the RPO at Abbey Road Studios, at 18. She has received the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Distinguished Alumna Award and an Honorary Doctorate from The Colburn School, and serves on the Board of Trustees of The Juilliard School.
Meyers endorses Larsen Strings and performs on the Ex-Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù, dated 1741, considered by many to be the finest sounding violin in existence.