On the eve of launching her 40th anniversary world tour, world-class violinist Midori learned that her friend Daniel Stroup, Founding President of the Shandelee Music Festival, was retiring from his 38-year job with the United Nations International School (UNIS).

Midori decided to gift her friend with a special concert.

Visionary artist Midori is an activist and educator, marking the 40th anniversary of her professional debut with the New York Philharmonic at 11 years old.

Her concert venues read like a world atlas, having performed with the London, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and Festival Strings Lucerne.

The anniversary tour will include concerts in Chicago, Washington, DC, Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco, and a solo recital return to Carnegie Hall. Midori will also appear with the Boston and National Symphony Orchestras, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony and Glacier Symphony (in Montana).

Other concerts will follow in Hamburg, London, Dresden and Bon.

Among her many honors, Midori was awarded the Asian Cultural Council’s John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award, the Brahms Prize and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2021. She serves as a UN Messenger of Peace.

Daniel Stroup’s life has always been focused on music, studying in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, then New York under scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music. He earned his Master of Music Degree in 1989, and performed in the Far East, Europe, Hong Kong, and Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.

Stroup was an invited guest choral conductor for the annual Messiah “Sing In” at Avery Fisher Hall for seven years. As the conductor of the UNIS Vocal Chamber Ensemble, he’s led his students in performances at the Harvard Club, the Shandelee Music Festival Showcase Series, La Guardia High School Center for the Performing Arts, the UN General Assembly Hall and many others. Performance venues include Massachusetts, Connecticut, Portland, Oregon, Sweden, Germany, Vienna and France. The ensemble has also performed for former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and also for the 60th Anniversary celebration of the UN School.

Besides the UNIS Vocal Chamber Ensemble, Stroup conducts the Senior Choir and Chamber Ensemble. He’s the coordinator for the UNIS Performing Arts Program, and teaches private piano. After retirement from UNIS, he will focus all of his energies on the Shandelee Music Festival including plans for expansion of the Outreach Programs in the Sullivan County public school system, as well as expansion of SMF’s Sunset Concert Series on the Festival grounds.

On December 15, 2022, dear friends, Midori and Daniel Stroup were reunited at the United Nations International School, where, in honor of his upcoming retirement, she performed a concert for 150 students of the UNIS Senior Chorus, String Ensemble and Wind Ensemble.

Along with her pianist Leva Life, Midori performed works for violin and piano by Dvorák, Prokofiev, Schumann and Franck.

In a “thank you” letter, the students told Midori that they “really enjoyed the repertoire and were thoroughly impacted” by her emotionally charged performance.