Karen Gomyo & Orion Weiss

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Violin Sonata in G major, K.379 Samuel Adams (b. 1985): Diptych Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904): Romance in F, Op. 11F Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Violin Sonata No.5, Op.24 Appearing amid a busy international touring schedule, celebrated violinist Karen Gomyo makes her Phillips Music debut with music for violin and piano by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Samuel Adams, Antonín Dvořák, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Born in Tokyo and musically trained in Montréal and New York, Gomyo has performed with leading orchestras around the world. She is joined by longtime collaborator, pianist Orion Weiss, returning for his second Phillips Music appearance in Season 86. This performance is generously sponsored by Martha R. Johnston. Performers Karen Goymo, violin Orion Weiss, piano Karen Gomyo, “a first-rate artist of real musical command, vitality, brilliance and intensity” (The Chicago Tribune), possesses a rare ability to captivate and connect intimately with audiences through her deeply emotional and heartfelt performances. With flawless command of the instrument and an elegance of expression, she is one of today’s leading violinists. Following a highly successful 2024/25 season which included debuts with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Orchestra RAI Torino, and the Helsinki, Oslo, and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as returns to the Baltimore, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto, Sydney, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Karen’s 2025/26 season will bring more highly anticipated appearances. She returns to the New York Philharmonic, the New World Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Residentie Orkest in The Hague, and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. She will also make debuts with the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, Malaysian Philharmonic, and the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre Orchestra. Other recent highlights include debuts with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under Semyon Bychkov, the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra with Jakub Hrůša, the Pittsburgh Symphony, Orquesta Nacional de España, and the Czech Philharmonic, as well as returns to the Dallas Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Bamberg Symphony, and WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln. As a passionate chamber musician, Karen has performed with artists such as Olli Mustonen, Leif Ove Andsnes, Enrico Pace, James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Daishin Kashimoto, Emmanuel Pahud, Julian Steckel, the late Heinrich Schiff, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, and guitarist Ismo Eskelinen, with whom she recorded the duo album Carnival on BIS Records. She is also a champion of the nuevo tango music of Astor Piazzolla, having collaborated with Piazzolla’s longtime pianist and tango legend Pablo Ziegler, as well as with bandoneon players Héctor del Curto, JP Jofre, and Marcelo Nisinman. In 2021, Karen released A Piazzolla Trilogy (BIS Records), recorded with the Strings of Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and guitarist Stephanie Jones. Each season, Karen features a work written by a living composer. She gave the U.S. premieres of Samy Moussa’s Violin Concerto Adrano with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Matthias Pintscher’s Concerto No. 2 Mar’eh with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. under the composer’s baton, and Xi Wang’s YEAR 2020: Concerto for Violin, Trumpet and Orchestra with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, conducted by Fabio Luisi. In 2018, she performed the world premiere of Samuel Adams’ Chamber Concerto with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, written for her and commissioned for the CSO’s MusicNOW 20th anniversary series. Born in Tokyo, Karen began her musical career in Montréal and New York. She studied under the legendary pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School before continuing her studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the New England Conservatory with Mauricio Fuks and Donald Weilerstein, respectively. She also studied privately for a formative period in Vienna with Heinrich Schiff. Karen participated as violinist, host, and narrator in a documentary film produced by NHK Japan about Antonio Stradivarius, The Mysteries of the Supreme Violin, which was broadcast worldwide on NHK WORLD. One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber music collaborators of his generation, Orion Weiss is widely regarded as a “brilliant pianist” (The New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post). With a warmth to his playing that outwardly reflects his engaging personality, Weiss’s “delicate, even finger work” (Washington Classical Review) and “head-spinning range of colors” (Chicago Tribune) have dazzled audiences around the world. He has performed with all of the major orchestras of North America, including the Chicag