Reviews

IMG Artists is delighted to welcome violinist Karen Gomyo to its roster for general management. Karen will be represented by Agnieszka Mikus and, in association with Enticott Music Management, Kathryn Enticott.

Praised as, “a first-rate artist of real musical command, vitality, brilliance and intensity” (The Chicago Tribune), Karen possesses a rare ability to captivate and connect intimately with audiences through her deeply emotional and heartfelt performances. With a flawless command of the instrument and an elegance of expression, she is one of today’s leading violinists.

This season will see her debuts with both the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig with Semyon Bychkov and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland with Lio Kuokman.  She will make her highly-anticipated returns to the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra with frequent collaborator Jakub Hrůša; Mozarteumorchester Salzburg; BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Gulbenkian; Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao; Vancouver Symphony; and Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmanian and West Australian symphony orchestras. Known for her commitment to contemporary music and new commissions, Karen will give the world premiere of Xi Wang’s Dallas Symphony Orchestra commission, Year 2020: Concerto for Trumpet, Violin and Orchestra with the Orchestra, trumpeter Tine Ting Helseth and conductor Fabio Luisi in February 2024

Karen said, “I am thrilled and honored to be joining the IMG Artists family, in association with Enticott Music Management, collaborating with two of the most brilliant managers, Agnieszka Mikus and Kathryn Enticott. I feel extremely grateful to have found an artistic home within this wonderfully enthusiastic, open-minded, forward-thinking, and compassionate team. With their unparalleled leadership and team spirit, combined with their curiosity and understanding of the individual artist’s needs and visions, I couldn’t ask for better partners to embark on this new journey with!”

Agnieszka and Kathryn said, “It is an immense pleasure for us to begin our work with Karen Gomyo, a violinist of astonishing musical depth and creativity. We have been inspired by the countless ideas we have exchanged since our first meeting with Karen.  She is a brilliant communicator, both on and off the concert platform and we are so happy to be a part of her professional journey,  bringing her vision and ambitions to fruition.”

Born in Tokyo, Karen began her musical career in Montréal and New York, She studied under the legendary pedagogue Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School before continuing her studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and New England Conservatory.

Highlights of recent seasons include Karen’s subscription debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Orquesta Nacional de España, the Czech Philharmonic and Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Karen also returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris under Mikko Franck and the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln with Cristian Macelaru.

As a passionate chamber musician, Karen has had the pleasure of performing with artists such as Olli Mustonen, Leif Ove Andsnes, Enrico Pace, James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Daishin Kashimoto, Emmanuel Pahud, Julian Steckel, the late Heinrich Schiff, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, and guitarist Ismo Eskelinen with whom she has recorded the duo album Carnival on Bis Records.

In May, 2018, Karen Gomyo performed the world premiere of Samuel Adams’ new Chamber Concerto, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, to great critical acclaim. The work was written for her and commissioned by the CSO to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its MusicNow series.a

Lynn Walker, The Guardian

Karen Gomyo tackled the challenging concerto with remarkable technical ease and, more impressive still, a kind of radiant phrasing. Her tone was sweet, but never saccharine. She spun out melodic lines with the beauty and insight of a poet; her pianissimos in the Adagio were ravishing. The rougher side of the music did not go short-changed; she dug in mightily and grittily as needed. The violinist’s stirring work was matched by Kalmar and the BSO; the performance clicked tightly. A vociferous response from the audience drew an encore from Gomyo.

Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun

Karen Gomyo was the dazzling soloist in the Mozart G major Violin Concerto (K.216). Playing a Stradivarius of ravishing beauty, she gave not the usual well-behaved summary, but a highly dramatized, even operatic account. This was playing of flawless technique and great sophistication, and Herbig coaxed buoyant, vividly characterized collaboration from a chamber-orchestra reduction of the DSO.

Scott Cantrell, The Dallas Morning News

New to the roster were Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits and Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo. Mark well their names because you are going to hear a lot more from these gifted young musicians in the coming years. …Gomyo is a first-rate artist of real musical command. Her probing account of the...

John Von Rhein, The Chicago Tribune

The orchestral music in “The Lark Ascending” rarely rises above a whisper, but the solo violin soars gracefully and benefits greatly from a rich acoustic ambience. Karen Gomyo used that to her benefit, and the music’s, in a sweet-toned, beautifully shaped performance. Nullam gravida venenatis gravida. Vestibulum imperdiet felis fringilla...

Allan Kozinn, The New York Times

Sharing the stage with the exceptional young violinist, Karen Gomyo, who gave a vivid performance that was full of interesting detail as well as a sense of drama. Some moments were downright spine-tingling.

Olin Chism, The Dallas Morning News

These two works framed a performance of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole in which the violin soloist was the Canadian Karen Gomyo. She succeeded in balancing the flamboyance of the score with its moments of quiet lyricism. Like Zhang, she is certainly an artist to watch. Nullam gravida venenatis gravida. Vestibulum imperdiet...

Rian Evans, The Guardian

The superb young violinist Karen Gomyo, his soloist in the Mendelssohn, summarily banished any such misbegotten notions with her deeply serious, temperamental and just plain gorgeous account of the solo part. Possibly the last great talent to come under the influence of Dorothy DeLay, she had the measure of the...

Ken Winters, The Globe and Mail

The young Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo showed herself more than capable of taking the lead in this short but well-crafted concerto. She was unfailingly persuasive, with an unforced natural expressiveness and warmth. From perilous harmonics, gravelly double-stops and dramatic left-hand pizzicatos to her snatch of balalaika-like dance, Gomyo displayed a remarkable musicianship.

Lynn Walker, The Guardian