Midori has been recognized by the United Nations and the World Economic Forum for her exceptional commitment to education and community engagement throughout the U.S.A., Europe, Asia and the developing world. She has been making a sustained commitment to the violin repertoire of the future, recently commissioning several new concerto and recital works. In the last few seasons, Midori has added several new recordings to her extensive catalogue of discs and, in 2014, a recording featuring Midori’s performance of Hindemith’s Violin Concerto with NDR Symphony Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium. Midori is recognized as an extraordinary performer, a devoted and gifted educator and an innovative community engagement activist. In 1992, she founded Midori & Friends, a non-profit organization in New York that brings music education programs to underserved New York City schoolchildren in every borough each year. In 2007, she was named a messenger of peace by U. N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Midori’s violin is the 1734 Guarnerius del Gesù ‘ex-Huberman.’ She uses three bows—two by Dominique Peccatte and one by Paul Siefried.