The Colburn School Announces 2023 Conservatory Keynote Speaker and Honorary Doctorate Recipient Anne Akiko Meyers

(Monday, May 1, 2023) Los Angeles – Violinist and Colburn School alumna Anne Akiko Meyers will be the featured keynote speaker on May 1 at the 2023 Conservatory of Music Commencement, where she will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the School. One of the world’s most esteemed violinists, Anne regularly performs around the world as soloist with leading orchestras, in recital, and as a prolific recording artist with more than 40 releases. She is one of today’s greatest champions of living composers, having commissioned and premiered important new works to massive critical and audience acclaim.

A native of Southern California, Anne’s early training was at Colburn’s Community School with Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld. She later attended the Juilliard School where she studied with the legendary Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki, and Felix Galimir, and signed with management at 16 years old to launch her international performing and recording career. She has been awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Distinguished Alumna Award from the Colburn School, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Juilliard School.

Anne Akiko Meyers will address the graduating class of the Colburn Conservatory of Music alongside student speakers Aubree Oliverson and Ross Jamie Collins. 61 students will graduate in 2023, the largest in the Conservatory’s history, and will go on to positions with the Atlanta Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Florida Symphony, New World Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Pershing’s Own United States Army Band, San Diego Symphony, and Victoria Symphony, among others. Conservatory Commencement is open to the public, and tickets are not required.

About Anne Akiko Meyers
Anne Akiko Meyers is one of today’s most important violinists.  Her current season includes appearances with the Los Angeles, National, Albany, Detroit, Nashville, Princeton, San Diego, San Jose, Tucson, and Wichita Symphony Orchestras. She recently released Mysterium, a recording of newly imagined violin/choral music by J.S. Bach and Morten Lauridsen, with Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Shining Night, her 40th recording, recorded at Zipper Hall, featuring world premieres and new arrangements by J.S. Bach, Brouwer, Corelli, Ellington, Piazzolla, Ponce, and Lauridsen, with pianist Fabio Bidini (the Carol Colburn Grigor Chair of Piano at the Colburn School), and guitarist Jason Vieaux.

Anne has premiered new music with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Seattle, Washington D.C., Helsinki, Hyogo, Leipzig, London, Lyon, and New Zealand, among others. She has worked closely with Arvo Pärt (Estonian Lullaby), Einojuhani Rautavaara (Fantasia, his final complete work), John Corigliano (cadenzas for the Beethoven Violin Concerto; Lullaby for Natalie), Arturo Márquez (Fandango), Michael Daugherty (Blue Electra), Mason Bates and Adam Schoenberg (violin concertos), Jakub Ciupiński, Jennifer Higdon, Samuel Jones, Morten Lauridsen, Wynton Marsalis, Akira Miyoshi, Somei Satoh, and Joseph Schwantner.

Anne’s television appearances include The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Evening At Pops with John Williams, CBS Sunday Morning, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Emmy Awards and The View. John Williams personally chose Anne to perform “Schindler’s List” for a Great Performances PBS telecast and the iconic Estonian composer Arvo Pärt invited her to perform the opening concerts of his new centre and concert hall in Laulasmaa, Estonia. Meyers premiered Samuel Jones’s Violin Concerto with the All-Star Orchestra led by Gerard Schwarz in a nationwide PBS broadcast special and a Naxos DVD release. Her recording of Somei Satoh’s Birds in Warped Time II was used by architect Michael Arad for his award-winning design submission which today has become The World Trade Center Memorial in lower Manhattan. Other highlights include a performance of the Barber Violin Concerto at the Australian Bicentennial Concert in Sydney Harbour for an audience of 750,000; and appearances for the Emperor and Empress Akihito of Japan; Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in a Museumplein Concert with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and capacity crowds before baseball games at T-Mobile Park in Seattle and Dodger Stadium.

Anne has been featured in commercials and advertising campaigns including Anne Klein, shot by legendary photographer, Annie Leibovitz, J. Jill, Northwest Airlines, DDI Japan, and TDK and was the inspiration for the main character’s career path in the novel, The Engagements, written by popular author, J. Courtney Sullivan. She performs on the Ex-Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù, dated 1741, considered by many to be the finest sounding violin in existence. Visit www.anneakikomeyers.com for more info.

About The Colburn School

An internationally renowned performing arts institution located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, the Colburn School trains students from those about to embark on professional careers to those just beginning their artistic journey.

The academic units of the School are joined by a single philosophy: all who desire to study music or dance should have access to top-level instruction. The units of the School are the diploma- and degree-granting Conservatory of Music, a preeminent training ground for professional musicians; the Music Academy, a pre-college program preparing musicians to study at top conservatories; the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, a comprehensive dance program including the elite pre-professional Dance Academy; and the Community School of Performing Arts, offering private lessons and group instruction in music performance, drama, and music theory for students of all ability levels and ages, from seven months old to adults. Serving all units of the School, the Center for Innovation and Community Impact prepares students for sustainable careers and nurtures the passion and ability to serve their communities.

The Conservatory of Music trains the very highest level of classical instrumental performers for careers in the 21st century. All students accepted into the Conservatory receive full scholarship support so that they can focus on their craft without financial burden. With world-renowned faculty, outstanding performance opportunities, and unparalleled financial support, the Colburn Conservatory gives young musicians unrivaled opportunity to develop their art. Graduates of Colburn go on to orchestras around the world including the Baltimore Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Royal Swedish Opera, and the St. Louis Symphony, among many others.