Michi Wiancko, violin

New Music/New Places Fellow

www.michiwiancko.com

Violinist Michi Wiancko is a winner of the 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Gramophone Magazine describes her as an "alluring soloist [with] heightened expressive and violinistic gifts." The Des Moines Register declares her sound is “pure gold,” and SYMPHONY Magazine featured her as an “Artist to Watch” on the cover of its January 2007 issue.

Ms. Wiancko has confirmed this reputation through concerto engagements with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics and in recital and chamber music concerts in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, Banff Center, Sydney Opera House, National Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also performs regularly in non-traditional spaces and with a variety of eclectic ensembles, including Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble).

Michi Wiancko opened the 2009 – 2010 season as part of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in performances with the Mark Morris Dance Company collaborating with YoYo Ma and Emanuel Ax. Further highlights include concerto engagements with the Grand Rapids, Columbus (GA), Ft. Smith (AR) and South Carolina Symphonies, US tours with both Mark Morris and ECCO and a tour of Japan with her brother, cellist Paul Wiancko. 2008-2009 featured concertos with the Ohio Valley Symphony (Brahms Violin Concerto) and with the DuPage (IL) and Bangor (ME) Symphonies performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in collaboration with violist Jennifer Stumm.

Recent orchestral highlights include the world premiere of a violin concerto composed for her by Margaret Brouwer with Cleveland’s City Music Orchestra under the baton of James Gaffigan, as well as solo performances of the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Columbus Symphony (GA),  Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen and Carmen Fantasy with the Victoria Symphony (TX), Barber’s Violin Concerto with the New York Repertory Orchestra and the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Bakersfield Symphony, Roswell Symphony and Santa Maria Philharmonic.

Ms. Wiancko regularly appears often in conjunction with Concert Artists Guild’s lauded New Music/New Places initiative at such venues as Brooklyn’s Barbès Bar and Performance Space, BAM Café and Philadelphia’s World Café Live.  As singer, violinist and composer for her band KONO MICHI, she consistently pushes the boundaries of the classical repertoire and explores new genres. The Strad describes the sound as “intriguing and exquisitely beautiful…music that breaks through the pop classical barrier.” KONO MICHI appeared at Symphony Space in Spring 2009 performing Ms. Wiancko’s newest work, 9 Death Haiku, commissioned by CAG. This song cycle appears on disc on the Shark Batter Records label. In addition to KONO MICHI, her varied musical interests include country fiddle, gypsy violin and improvisation, and she has appeared in many of New York’s well-known downtown clubs including The Knitting Factory, Joe’s Pub, Continental, Arlene’s Grocery and The Blue Note. 

Michi Wiancko is a founding member of ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra), a conductor-less string ensemble and a former member of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet. She tours regularly with Musicians from Marlboro and has been a guest artist at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, Olympic Music Festival in Seattle, Pablo Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Tucson Chamber Music Festival and with Boston’s Metamorphosen Ensemble and the Mark Morris Dance Group. 

Michi Wiancko is a native of Southern California. She holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Donald Weilerstein, and from The Juilliard School, where she was a student of Robert Mann. Ms. Wiancko’s debut solo CD, Platinum Spirals, features works by Ravel, Beethoven, Kreisler, Debussy, Prokofiev and Joan Tower.