Michi Wiancko, violin

New Music/New Places Fellow

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 credited by Cleveland’s Plain Dealer with playing that “melts seamlessly into tender utterances” 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 the ICE ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble.

The 2007-2008 season features Ms. Wiancko as a soloist with the Columbus Symphony (GA) performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto and with the Victoria Symphony (TX) performing Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen and Carmen Fantasy. Recent orchestral highlights include performances of the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Bakersfield Symphony, Roswell Symphony and Santa Maria Philharmonic and Barber’s Violin Concerto with the New York Repertory Orchestra.  In March 2007, Ms. Wiancko premiered a violin concerto written for her by Margaret Brouwer with Cleveland’s City Music Orchestra under the baton of James Gaffigan, and the recently released recording of that work earned Ms. Wiancko high praise in Gramophone Magazine, referring to her as “an alluring soloist [with] heightened expressive and violinistic gifts.”

Ms. Wiancko regularly appears in conjunction with Concert Artists Guild’s lauded New Music/New Places initiative, performing at Brooklyn’s Barbès Bar and Performance Space, BAM Café and Philadelphia’s World Café Live.  Consistently pushing the boundaries of the classical repertoire and exploring new genres, she is a singer, violinist and composer for her band Kono Michi, comprised of string quartet, bass and drums. She appears regularly in many of New York's well-known downtown venues including The Knitting Factory, Joe’s Pub, Tonic, 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 as a student of Robert Mann. Ms. Wiancko’s debut solo CD, Platinum Spirals, featuring works by Ravel, Beethoven, Kreisler, Debussy, Prokofiev and Joan Tower, is now available online at www.concertartists.org.