Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series about the life and career of violinist Midori Goto based on an interview. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of her debut, the musician, who is often referred to mononymously as Midori, recounts her story as an artist, social activist and educator.

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Violinist Midori Goto talked about being a normal child despite being a young prodigy in a far-ranging interview that touched on her mentor, Isaac Stern, and looked back on her struggles with an eating disorder in her 20s.

Born in 1971, Midori relocated to the United States at age 10. She has since performed with the renowned New York Philharmonic.

Midori, now 51, is touring Tokyo, Fukuoka and Nagoya with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin symphony in May.

She is expected to organize events across Japan in June as head of the Music Sharing nonprofit group. The violinist is the only U.N. Messenger of Peace who hails from Japan.

Midori also explained how she built her foundation as a musician given what she learned from Stern during a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun.

Excerpts of the interview follow:

RELOCATION TO U.S. AT 10

Question: What were you like as a child?

Midori: I was a normal child. I played the violin, starting when I was three, but did not think of myself as special or different from others. I was raised in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, and my mother was my first music teacher. When I was ten, my mother took me to New York to take lessons from Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School. My first memory of the new country was landing at the airport, where I found it cold, because it was snowing.

 I lived with my mother, went to elementary school, and along with my homework practiced the violin for five or six hours every day. I learned a lot then but it was very challenging being so busy in my studies while adapting to a new culture and fully learning a new language. Luckily, my mother was always there for me, finding the right words to lift my spirits. Her unflagging support gave me the confidence which is so essential to any of us.

Q: Were you a calm performer even during your childhood, given that you are famous for the so-called Miracle of Tanglewood, Massachusetts, where you did not stop playing despite your string breaking on two occasions?

A: Having grown up among musicians, I had seen what seasoned musicians did when their own strings broke, so I instantly knew how to respond. My story was discussed in a schoolbook for third graders. That was likely because I, the protagonist, was a young girl, and I guess my being of a relatively similar age to the book’s readers made the story, and its implicit message, more relatable. 

Q: Who has had the greatest impact on your style as a musician?

A: I have had many teachers, but what I learned from violinist Isaac Stern (1920-2001) is especially worth noting. He would often tell me to listen more, to reach deeper into what I was doing. He asked that I take responsibility for my musical choices. That’s easier said than　　done, of course, but it was a lesson I took to heart, ever since, in life as well as in music-making.

 In Stern’s lessons, I regularly worked intensely to best shape a single phrase. We would sometimes spend over two hours on a single phrase. He never told me, “do it this way” or “do it that way.” With questions like “why are you performing in that fashion,” or “what do you feel that the composer intended here,” he utilized the “Socratic method,” to sharpen my logical reasoning. Through all this, he helped me to find my own interpretation and unique sound.

 I learned a lot and gradually became able to express my own views. I then realized I had no choice but to take responsibility for what I do. This thought constitutes a part of my foundation as a musician, and as a person in general.

 After reaching adulthood, I sometimes would ask Mr. Stern’s reasons on why he played a specific phrase the way he did, and at times, we would engage ourselves in exchange of ideas and sometimes discussing them in such a way, which, for the outsiders, must have sounded like we were arguing with each other.

 I especially remember how he came to support me during a rehearsal at Tanglewood before my debut there. Along the way we became friends, and to this day, conversations with Stern are my treasure. I still utilize that foundation I inherited from him when I teach my own students.

HOSPITALIZED FOR MONTHS

Q: Will you talk about when you rested from your work due to an eating disorder in your early 20s?

A: I had many mental ups and downs at that time. Though some people blamed my mother for them, saying that I was experiencing psychological burdens associated with her remarriage or other matters, the actual cause was unknown. The issue of mental health was very much a taboo in society back then, and there was no internet, of course, to search for information. It was only after more than one doctor told me I was mentally ill that I became aware that I was sick.

 I had been experiencing symptoms of anorexia for a while, but until I received a diagnosis, I was unfamiliar with the condition, and had not known how to handle the situation. Suffering from depression, I was hospitalized for some two months. I continued with my treatment even after leaving the hospital, and it took several years for me to recover. This is not an exception for many mental illnesses, and the length of treatment is not necessarily indicativeness of the gravity of the disease.

 I learned from the doctors that patients with an eating disorder would have to live with it for the rest of life. I have not been receiving treatment since my recovery, but I still always keep in mind that I was once an anorexic and will always be one. "Once an anorexic, always an anorexic." I am just not any longer symptomatic.

 Leading a life inevitably involves sad, happy and unpleasant moments. Having no emotional changes or ups and downs is not normal.

 More and more people have come to be open about their mental illnesses. Now that we can more easily seek help, the conditions can be prevented from worsening. It is great that times have moved on. I feel at the same time, though, that treating mental illness takes much time. One should receive medical assessment quickly and engage in treatment with patience. 

(This interview was conducted by Misako Yamauchi, a staff writer of The Asahi Shimbun.)