Midori: Assigned Messenger of Peace

Japanese violinist Midori has been proclaimed „Messenger of Peace“ by UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon. The designation follows Midori’s tireless efforts of using her position as one of the world’s most succesful and widely respected classical artists to initiate and support social projects, including “Midori & Friends”. Her task as Messenger of Peace will include pushing the Millennium Development Goals forward, which according to the UN themselves “range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015”. Midori is joined in her task by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, conductor Daniel Barenboim as well as princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, first lady of Dubai.

The announcement hardly comes as a surprise. Already in 1992, Midori founded “Midori & Friends” as an organisation to enable less privileged children and families to enjoy a well-founded musical education. Since its inception, “Midori & Friends” has invited 130.000 children to its courses through a set of programs and projects. “Music Sharing”, meanwhile, is dedicated to organising concerts with young people of diverse backgrounds and to establish a dialogue between them and professional artists.Currently, “Music Sharing” is heading for Cambodia, where Midori will be accompanied by local instrumentalist on a local tour. “My encounters with younger musicians are always invigorating and continue to motivate and inspire me.” Midori said, “In trying to discover how music affects each one of us, we find meaning in our music making, and therefore in our practice.”

Ban-Ki Moon especially stressed Midori’s engagement with children, as well as her great achievements, “Midori & Friends” and “Music Sharing “ just being the tip of the iceberg. Midori gladly accepted the invitation, saying she was looking forward to supporting these goals and to finding ways of making her own organisations and the UN work together.

Picture by Malcolm Crowthers

Homepage: Midori
Homepage: Midori and Friends