Midori to Receive 43rd Annual Kennedy Center Honor in Recognition of Lifetime Artistic Achievements
Midori, Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, and Dick Van Dyke to be honored in a gala to be broadcast on June 6

"With an international presence for over 35 years, violinist Midori combines graceful precision and expression for performances building connections between art and the human experience."
—David M. Rubenstein, Kennedy Center Chairman

We are tremendously proud to announce that violinist Midori has been chosen as one of the recipients of the 43rd Kennedy Center Honors. As an artist, activist, and educator, we can think of no one more deserving of this prestigious award. 

Midori says:
"Artists have a singular responsibility, through our work and deeds, to echo and mirror our society and serve its needs. As a new chapter of life is about to begin for all of us, I especially feel the current moment’s necessities and opportunities to explore a spring of new and preserved energies and discoveries, to play my part in seeking various avenues and forms of creativity and recovery. From an early age, I have been gifted with extraordinary experiences. I consider them to be my treasure and fortune that I might now draw upon. I wish to accomplish much going forward. My plans are to be making music again, in both pioneering and traditional ways, to sing out and to stir what lies within us, to describe mysteries, of the heart and of the mind. So, in the spirit of peace and connectivity through this country and the world, I am thrilled to be a recipient of one of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, as we, together, reach toward renewed expression of the dreams and hopes that unify us all."

The 2020 Kennedy Center Honors, traditionally held in December, was postponed until May 2021 due COVID-19 pandemic. Midori told the New York Times that the pandemic has given her a renewed sense of appreciation for performing in front of an audience. “It made me realize how precious the moments of being able to do things live are,” she said.

The Honors recipients are confirmed by the Executive Committee of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees in recognition for their contributions to American culture through the performing arts. An Honoree medallion ceremony for the Honorees and a limited audience will be hosted by the Kennedy Center during this week in May 17–22. The Honors Gala will be recorded for broadcast on CBS as a two-hour primetime special on June 6, 9 p.m. ET.

This weekend, Midori performs Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Houston Symphony under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya. To read a feature story on the program, click here. For more information on tickets and livestream video of the concerts, click here.