A violinist of impeccably tailored artistry, Mayumi Seiler is renowned for her exciting performances of concerto, recital and collaborative works both live and on disc. She has graced stages from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Toronto’s Roy Thompson Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein and in London at Wigmore Hall and the Royal Albert Hall for The Proms. In performances of depth and delight, she has collaborated with renowned soloists and conductors, and created a distinguished series of concerts which played to sold-out houses in Toronto over 14 seasons.
Mayumi Seiler has appeared as concerto soloist with major symphonies around the globe, including the Royal Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, Moscow Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Montréal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Academica Salzburg, Bournemouth Symphony, City of London Sinfonia and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, among others. She has collaborated with such noted conductors as Kent Nagano, Peter Oundjian, David Atherton, Christopher Hogwood, Neville Marriner, Sandor Vegh, Hugh Wolff and Richard Hickox.
Among Ms. Seiler’s extensive list of recordings are the Beethoven Concerto, the two Mendelssohn Concertos and three of the Haydn Violin Concertos with the City of London Sinfonia and Richard Hickox conducting on the Virgin Classics label. She has recorded Stravinsky’s Le Baiser de la Fée with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and David Atherton, also on Virgin Classics. Her many recordings of chamber music, including works of Schumann, Dohnanyi, Boccherini and Mozart, appear on the Hyperion and Capriccio labels.
While nurturing a busy schedule as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Japan and the Americas, Ms. Seiler founded Toronto’s Via Salzburg – acclaimed as “One of the best roads to our musical hearts” (Toronto Star). In Via Salzburg she led a string orchestra in regular performances at the Glenn Gould Studio for sold out audiences. Through 14 seasons she curated programs with renowned artists from Europe and Asia and combined varied art forms such as dance, pantomime and painting into Via Salzburg events, winning the embrace of audiences and the praise of critics citing the performer’s “combustion of creative energy – they clearly love what they are doing” (Toronto Star).
She has collaborated with many of the world’s leading soloists, including violinists Maxim Vengerov, Richard Tognetti and Ruggiero Ricci, violist Veronika Hagen, cellists Steven Isserlis and Colin Carr, pianists Menachim Pressler, André Laplante, Yael Weiss and Ikuyo Nakamichi, clarinetist David Shiffrin, and guitarist Elliot Fisk among many others.
An active and passionate teacher, Mayumi Seiler serves on the faculty at The Glenn Gould School in Toronto. She has held a professorship at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg, has given masterclasses worldwide and has adjudicated at numerous international violin competitions. She began her musical upbringing in Osaka, Japan, where she was born of Japanese/German parentage. Wedded to the violin from the age of three, she received her musical education at the renowned Mozarteum during the formative years of her childhood in Salzburg.
Mayumi Seiler performs on the 1684 Croall Stradivarius.
“Mayumi Seiler unites the technical excellence of the Orient with the grand chamber music heritage of Germany”
The Strad
“Seiler brings an exceptional blend of precision with tonal generosity, finesse with enthusiasm. She persuades you to share her absorption.”
BBC Music Magazine
“It was the classic nightmare of conductors and orchestra administrators…As luck would have it, London-based violinist Mayumi Seiler was in town visiting a friend and valiantly agreed to step in. On two and a half hours notice, with no rehearsal other than a meeting with guest conductor Hugh Wolff 30 minutes before curtain time, she walked onstage to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor – a work she has recorded for Virgin Classics. Despite the nerve wracking circumstances, Seiler did an admirable job on her TSO debut. The sound she draws out of her Guadagnini violin is remarkably sweet – It’s not surprising to learn that chamber music occupies an important place in her career.”
The Globe and Mail
“… it was natural for London-based Mayumi Seiler to turn to it (Mendelssohn Violin Concerto ) when she was asked to stand in for Gil Shaham. Nobody minded the relaxed informality of her outfit, and she was given wild applause after she coursed through the familiar bars with the skill and musical insight of her long professional experience.”
Toronto Star
“Seiler was a pupil of the great Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh, who knew Bartok, and her wayward, highly inflected approach to the music’s kaleidoscope of rhythms doubtless had its origins in the Bartokian idiom as Vegh purveyed it. The music certainly lived and breathed, and Seiler’s happy band of strings played it for all they were worth. Viva Via Salzburg.”
The Globe and Mail
“…in ‘Summer’ from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons…Seiler’s solo performance was brilliant – easily better than at least half a dozen recordings on the market.”
The Globe and Mail
“She energized the familiar strains [of “Summer” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons] with grace and agility on her ancient Guadagnini violin, drawing from it responsive tones and sound that were refined as well as dramatic. Her ardour communicated to her colleagues, who were abuzz with ebullience in their programmatic passages.”
Toronto Star
“[In the Brahms’ Violin Sonata No.3] Seiler showed real imagination. Phrases were shaped emphatically, but without mannerism.”
The National Post
“Seiler…(is) one whose capacity for passion is never out of view. The ensemble was neat; the energy level was high; and certainly there was no doubt that the music was in more than capable hands”
The Globe and Mail
“In recital were violinist Mayumi Seiler and pianist Aleksandar Madzar, both building a substantial reputation on the international circuit. Seiler, who is of Japanese-German parentage and Madzar, who was born in Yugoslavia, attacked the piece with passion and gusto from the opening Allegro molto. Both performers embraced the challenge, responding with sensitivity and intelligence….. that’s a welcome change from one or two of the modern crop of violinists. Her technique is totally secure, the sound is wonderfully warm and robust. It’s cool fire…”
Toronto Star
CD Reviews:
“Seiler applies a singing tone and expressive shaping of phrases to both works.”[Mendelssohn Concerti on Virgin Classics]
Toronto Star
“Mayumi Seiler, a young and very highly regarded violinist…pays more attention to dynamic markings than do many other performers in the catalogue, and when she does add rubato, it is done with artistry and discretion. The slow movement is well handled, and it reaffirms Seiler’s well-rounded tonal quality and her impeccable intonation.” [Beethoven Concerto on Virgin Classics]
The Strad
“…she is duly respectful of the piece, tackling this most audacious of violin concertos with passionate conviction and a certain amount of technical bravado.” [Beethoven Concerto on Virgin Classics]
CD REVIEW
“Seiler found a convincing balance between sparkling energy and poised classical style.” [Haydn’s violin Concerto #1]
The Daily Telegraph
“Mayumi Seiler plays and directs with conviction, keeping the rhythms firm, and it is a pleasure to hear such natural balance of solo instrument against the strings.”
HI-FI News and Record Review
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, 1st mvmt – video link
Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello – with Colin Carr – video link
Audio Samples
Discography
