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. Featured as an “Artist to Watch” on the cover of the January 2007 issue of SYMPHONY Magazine, she is described by Gramophone Magazine as an "alluring soloist [with] heightened expressive and violinistic gifts" and by The Des Moines Register as “pure gold.”

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).

The 2008-2009 season features Ms. Wiancko as a soloist with the Ohio Valley Symphony performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto and with the DuPage (IL) and Bangor (ME) Symphonies performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in collaboration with violist Jennifer Stumm.   In February 2009, Ms. Wiancko is joined by electric violist Martha Mooke for a concert at Symphony Space’s Thalia Theatre as part of the CAG/New Works series.

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 in conjunction with Concert Artists Guild’s lauded New Music/New Places initiative at such venues as Brooklyn’s Barbès Bar and Performance Space and BAM Café and Philadelphia’s World Café Live.  As a singer, violinist and composer for her band Kono Michi, comprised of string quartet, bass and drums, she is consistently pushing the boundaries of the classical repertoire and exploring new genres. Kono Michi appears at Symphony Space in Spring 2009 as part of a CAG/Meet The Composer collaboration, where the band will perform original works by Ms. Wiancko.  She appears regularly in many of New York's well-known downtown venues including The Knitting Factory, Joe’s Pub, Barbès, Continental, Arlene's Grocery, Hank's Saloon, Village Underground and The Blue Note. Her varied musical interests include country fiddle, gypsy violin and improvisation. 

Ms. Wiancko is a member of the renowned Los Angeles Piano Quartet with which she performs nationwide, and she is the concertmaster of City Music Orchestra.  She is a founding member of ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra), a conductor-less string ensemble whose inaugural tour in Spring 2006 included stops at The Kennedy Center, New York’s Town Hall and the Philadelphia Convention Center. She also 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.