Vaughan Williams, Paganini, Beethoven
8pm, Saturday, October 20, 2007
Paine Hall, Harvard University
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Featured Artist
Ryu Goto, violin
Born in New York in 1988, Ryu Goto began playing the violin at the age of three. His teachers have included Yoko Gilbert, Victor Danchenko and Cho-Liang Lin.
Ryu made his concert debut at the age of seven at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Since then, his engagements have included appearances as a soloist with a number of international orchestras. In the United States he has appeared with the Dallas and National symphonies, and the American Youth Orchestra. In Europe Ryu has performed with the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, New Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria) and the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO). In Canada he has appeared with the Vancouver and Kitchener-Waterloo symphonies, and McGill Chamber Orchestra. In Japan his engagements have included the Gala Concert for the 12th Anniversary of Suntory Hall with the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Japan Virtuoso Orchestra, a UNICEF benefit concert with the Shinsei Nihon Symphony Orchestra, a Christmas eve benefit for UNICEF with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyoto Symphony and a benefit concert for the United Nation's World Food Programme with the Japan Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also performed with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra of South Africa. Ryu has collaborated with renowned conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Myung-Whun Chung, Yutaka Sado, Naoto Otomo, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Jonathan Nott, Edward Gardener, Mikko Franck, Kenneth Hsieh, Rossen Milanov and Gerard Schwarz. He has also performed the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, the Lanaudiere Festival in Canada and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany.
In 2001 Ryu performed an unprecedented series of ten sold-out recitals at the Casals Hall in Tokyo; and subsequently gave recitals in Mexico and Prague. He performed at the official September 11th commemoration that took place at the World Trade Center site and at the Peace Memorial Park concerts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the summer of 2006, he performed 13 sold-out recitals in 12 cities on his first Japan tour.
Ryu maintains a strong interest in chamber music. His piano trio "Ryu and his Friends" has performed in recitals in New York, Houston and Japan. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with numerous world-class instrumentalists including Mischa Maisky, Myung-Whun Chung, the Chung Trio, Jörg Widmann, Naoko Yoshino and Nobuko Imai.
Ryu's debut CD "Ryu Goto," released in August 2005 by Deutsche Grammophon in collaboration with Universal Classics Japan, quickly became the best selling classical album in Japan for that year. In July 2006, Deutsche Grammophon released a DVD featuring a performance of Ryu with the European Union Youth Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy. Ryu's second CD, "Live in Suntory Hall 2006," was released by Deutsche Grammaphon in January 2007. Every summer since 1996, Fuji TV has broadcasted a documentary entitled "Ryu Goto's Odyssey". Along with his appearances in TV commercials and advertisements, he has been the image boy of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East).
Ryu plays a 1715 Stradivari violin known both as the 'Ex-Pierre Rode' and the 'Duke of Cambridge.' This instrument is on loan to him from the NPO Yellow Angel.
Along with his concert engagements, Ryu enjoys playing the guitar and has a black belt in karate.