Anne Akiko Meyers set a new standard for violinists

January 29, 2008 at 07:06 PM · This past Friday I, along with about a thousand other people, witnessed what was perhaps the most spectacular bit of violin mastery in the past decade. Anne Akiko Meyers' performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in Oxnard, CA on January 25 was beyond compare.

Teamed with Maestro Boris Brott and the New West Symphony, Meyers lit into Mendelssohn like a woman on fire. Her technique was flawless, her interpretation fabulous, her tone unbelievable, her performance the most passionate I have ever seen a violinist give. She staked a claim as the top violinist performing on the road today and I would imagine that everyone in the concert hall would agree with that assessment.

This was a concert for the ages and why she is not recording Mendelssohn and performing this in New York, London, Berlin, and elsewhere is beyond me. She was unbelievable.

The audience gave her 3 standing ovations and she rewarded us with heartfelt, dripping solo performances of Summertime and Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

I am gushing about this I know, but I've seen Bell, Perlmann, Hahn, Chang, and Midori all perform in the last three years and nobody could hold a candle to what I saw last week. It was simply the most incredible violin solo work I have ever witnessed.

Young artists should take note: work on your technical skills, but develop your own feel for the music like Akiko Meyers did and you'll be far better off than if you spend all your times working on technical chops. Passion and emotion is what conveys music and until you've seen ths woman in concert, you haven't experienced it, because I certainly hadn't until seeing her.

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Marina Fragoulis

January 29, 2008 at 08:40 PM · It's wonderful to witness a concert that was so memorable. I have no doubt that Ms. Meyers delivered just as you said. But I want to comment on your statement:

"why she is not recording Mendelssohn and performing this in New York, London, Berlin, and elsewhere is beyond me."

It's hard for most of us to realize that big stardom does not only come from great art and skill. You must know the right people, and those people must promote you. They might be very rich patrons of the arts who are quite influential and serve on the boards of various orchestras and venues, or they may be impressarios such as the late Isaac Stern.. anyone that Mr. Stern decided to take under his wing became a very big star indeed.

Passion is great, but drive and the right circumstances are what make stardom.

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Anne Akiko Meyers set a new standard for violinists

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