biography

Midori Seiler, the Bavarian-Japanese daughter of two pianists, grew up in Salzburg. Her musical education took her further to Basel, London, and Berlin. She studied with musicians of diverse profiles: the „modern“ violinists Helmut Zehetmair, Sandòr Végh, Adelina Oprean, David Takeno, and Eberhard Feltz, as well as two specialists in early music: Stephan Mai and Thomas Hengelbrock.

As a member of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Midori experienced the ensemble’s international breakthrough, serving as concertmaster from 2005 to 2014. Numerous CD recordings, in which Midori Seiler participated as a soloist, resulted from this fruitful period. Among these, her recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons stands out, a choreographed performance with dancer and choreographer Juan Cruz de Garaio Esnaola. The recording of this project, celebrated throughout Europe, has been released on DVD and CD.

From 2001 to 2014, Midori Seiler was concertmaster of the orchestra Anima Eterna Brugge, specializing in historical performance practice of the orchestral repertoire from the Classical, Romantic, and early 20th centuries. Her extensive discography includes violin concertos by Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakov’s „Scheherazade,“ and her own reconstruction of Bach’s lost violin concerto BWV 1052. Her long-standing collaboration with the Belgian fortepiano expert Jos van Immerseel is evidenced by recordings of all violin and piano sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.

Her two releases of Bach’s solo works received significant media attention: following the Partitas for solo violin, the Sonatas were released in 2016. Midori Seiler maintains a particularly friendly relationship with the ensemble Concerto Köln. Alongside a highly acclaimed recording of Haydn’s violin concertos, a Vivaldi album titled „La Venezia di Anna Maria“ was released in 2018. The album garnered great attention and remained in the classical charts for several months.

Midori Seiler is among the few specialists in historical performance practice who feel at home in various eras: Baroque violin concertos—as a soloist with various Baroque ensembles (Tafelmusik Orchestra Toronto, Budapest Festival Orchestra)—are part of her repertoire, as are the classical/romantic violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Beethoven, in collaboration with period ensembles such as Anima Eterna, Akademie für Alte Musik, and Concerto Köln. „I see in the historical performance practice of the post-Baroque eras a field that is still not fully explored from an instrumental perspective. Entering this field, with the wealth of experience from the preceding time, is particularly fascinating for me.“

In the field of orchestral conducting, she is a welcome guest. As concertmaster of various projects, she led, among others, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Chamber Philharmonic Bremen, and conducts workshops for orchestras wanting to deepen their knowledge of historical performance practice (including the Basel Symphony Orchestra, NDR Hamburg, Hamburg State Opera). Her chamber music partners include Christian Rieger, Jaap ter Linden, Kristian Bezuidenhoud, and Andreas Staier.

In 2015, Midori Seiler received the Saxon Mozart Prize, which recognized her responsibly perceived artistic and pedagogical work concerning Wolfgang Amadé Mozart’s oeuvre. In 2016, the G. Henle Verlag published a Library App, including the digital edition of all works for violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. Users can activate the specially edited fingering and bowing arrangements by Midori Seiler.

The artist is a passionate educator: She has given master classes at the Conservatories of Zurich, Bruges, Antwerp, Weimar, Stuttgart, Innsbruck, and Verona, as well as being a lecturer at the Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz. After serving as a professor of Baroque violin at the music schools in Weimar and Salzburg, she has been teaching at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen since 2020. She regularly visits the Cologne University of Music for chamber music (focus on historical performance practice). „Teaching is about development for me. As a teacher, I dedicate myself to the musical self-responsibility of the students and gain myself in the process.“

Since 2016, Midori Seiler has been the artistic director of the BachCollektiv at the Köthen Bach Festival Days. Every year, she celebrates greater successes with this ensemble, consisting of 18 musicians from 12 nations, modeled after the famous Köthen court chapel from Bach’s time. Her experimental spirit with unusual concert formats has led to collaborations with contemporary dance, electronic music, and choreographed performance: together with choreographer Juan Kruz de Garaio Esnaola, she developed Bach’s sonatas for solo violin with two dancers.

In May 2025, the first zamus: early music festival will start under her artistic direction in Cologne. Under the theme „Contemplation & Ecstasy,“ she has curated an exciting program with over 20 events.