Orpheus Chamber Orchestra names Anne Akiko Meyers as Artistic Partner
Anne Akiko Meyers and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra announce a transformative five-year partnership, to
expand repertoire, recordings, and artistic scope
Anne Akiko Meyers and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall, 2025.
Photo credit: Chris Lee
Both famed for their groundbreaking innovations in the classical music industry, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will form an official association beginning in the 2026/27 season.
Meyers, who has long been connected to Orpheus through live performances and recordings, will assume the role of Artistic Partner in a joint effort to further expand the violin and orchestra repertoire, and to make classical music of the highest caliber accessible to all.
Meyers is a GRAMMY® Award-winning violin soloist and a defining force in contemporary music. Through her commissions, premieres, and recordings, she has helped reshape the modern violin repertoire.
Though Orpheus has cultivated fruitful relationships with a multitude of pioneering artists, the appointment of Meyers as Artistic Partner, set to extend through 2031/32, is one of only a few official collaborations over the ensemble’s storied history.
Most recently, Meyers and Orpheus appeared together in Carnegie Hall in spring 2025 with the world premiere of “The Pacific Has No Memory” by Eric Whitacre, commissioned in the wake of the devastating Palisades fires. Meyers and Orpheus world premiere recording of the breathtaking work can be heard here.
The partnership encompasses both concert performances and recordings, providing a platform for these new works to reach a wide audience.
Through bold new commissions with leading composers, Meyers and Orpheus will produce a body of work for violinist and orchestra, as well as a library of new music for classical musicians and audiences everywhere to enjoy.
Meyers states, “I’m deeply honored to be named Artistic Partner. From our first collaborations, the musicians of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra have inspired me with their extraordinary artistry, trust, and shared sense of purpose. Orpheus’s unique musical democracy creates a space where ideas flourish and music-making becomes a truly collective experience. I am especially passionate about working with the composers of our time, giving voice to new stories and expanding the violin repertoire. I look forward to what Orpheus and I will imagine, commission, and bring to life together over the next five years.”
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Executive Director Alexander Scheirle states: “We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Anne Akiko Meyers as Artistic Partner of Orpheus for a five-year term beginning in 2026. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to innovation, artistic excellence, and expanding the violin-with-orchestra repertoire for the 21st century.
Together, Orpheus and Anne will commission new works for violin and orchestra, creating a vibrant body of music that speaks to our time while building a lasting legacy for future generations. Equally central to this collaboration is a robust recording initiative: these new works will be professionally recorded and released across major digital streaming platforms, ensuring global accessibility and amplifying Orpheus’s mission and Anne’s commitment to bring transformative musical experiences to audiences everywhere.
Orpheus Violin and Artistic Director Abi Fayette shares, “Collaboration has always been central to the orchestra’s self-governing, conductorless model, with guest artists integrated into a democratic rehearsal process. This new partnership honors that tradition by deepening the collective model. This partnership is rooted in shared leadership. Anne will work alongside the Artistic Directors within Orpheus’s democratic framework, collaborating on the selection of composers to commission and helping to shape programs around those works. Rather than centralizing authority, the partnership extends the circle of artistic dialogue and reinforces Orpheus’s core values of distributed leadership, mutual listening, and shared artistic ownership.”
ABOUT ORPHEUS
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is a radical experiment in musical democracy, proving for over fifty years what happens when exceptional artists gather with total trust in each other and faith in the creative process. Orpheus began in 1972 when cellist Julian Fifer assembled a group of New York freelancers in their early twenties to play orchestral repertoire as if it were chamber music. In that age of co-ops and communes, theidealistic Orpheans snubbed the “corporate” path of symphony orchestras and learned how to play, plan, and promote concerts as a true collective, with leadership roles rotating from the very first performance.
The sound of Orpheus is defined by relationships, and guest artists have always been crucial partners in the process. Orpheus brings out the best in their collaborators, with bonds that deepen over time, as seen with artists and composers alike. Having proven the power of direct communication and open-mindedness within the ensemble, the only relationship Orpheus has never had any use for is one with a conductor.
At home in New York’s Carnegie Hall and in many concert halls around the world, Orpheus commits to enriching and reflecting the surrounding community. Orpheus for All ensures that every New Yorker can experience the thrill of a full-scale orchestral concert for free at Carnegie Hall. Orpheus Reflections™ brings the healing power of music to those living with dementia and their caregivers. Access Orpheus shares the orchestra’s collaborative process with 1,500 New York City Public School students, annually. Orpheus Leadership Institute connects musicians with global organizations and businesses to impart positive lessons of leadership and democracy. Always evolving as artists and leaders, the Orpheus musicians carry their legacy forward, counting on their shared artistry and mutual respect to make music and effect change.
ABOUT ANNE AKIKO MEYERS
Anne Akiko Meyers stands among the most influential violinists of our time. A GRAMMY® Award–winning artist with four decades of international acclaim, she is a defining force in contemporary music—both a muse and a fearless champion of today’s leading composers.
Through her commissions, premieres, and forty plus recordings, she has helped reshape the modern violin repertoire, earning the distinction as the “Wonder Woman of commissioning” by Strad Magazine – a title earned through her close collaborations with visionary composers such as Arvo Pärt, Einojuhani Rautavaara, John Corigliano, Arturo Márquez, Philip Glass, Michael Daugherty, Mason Bates, Adam Schoenberg, Billy Childs, Jakub Ciupiński, Ola Gjeilo, Morten Lauridsen, Wynton Marsalis, Somei Satoh, and Eric Whitacre.
In the 2025–26 season, Meyers premieres and releases Eric Whitacre’s The Pacific Has No Memory with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, including a performance with the Pacific Strings commemorating the first anniversary of the fires that devastated the Palisades and Altadena communities.
Her recent album Beloved, featuring Billy Childs’s In the Arms of the Beloved with Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, received a GRAMMY®nomination. Other notable releases include works by Michael Daugherty and Philip Glass with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Her 2024 recording of Arturo Márquez’s Fandango earned two Latin GRAMMY® Awards and has been performed worldwide. She has appeared on major broadcasts including twice on The T onight Show with Johnny Carson, NPR’s Tiny Desk, CBS Sunday Morning, Evening at the Pops, and Great Performances. Her distinguished performances include the John Williams Hollywood Bowl Stage Naming, the opening of the Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia, by invitation from the composer, the Bicentennial Celebration of Australia; Queen Máxima of the
Netherlands in a Museumplein Concert with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; an A&E broadcast of the Beethoven Violin Concerto at the 40th Pablo Casals Festival with the Montreal Symphony and Krzysztof Penderecki and “The Star-Spangled Banner” at T-Mobile Park in Seattle and Dodger Stadium. Her recording of Somei Satoh’s Birds in Warped Time II was part of the winning presentation for the World Trade Center Memorial design and will be released this fall as a special remastered 24th anniversary recording on vinyl.
A recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and an Honorary Doctorate from The Colburn School, she serves on the boards of The Juilliard School and the Dudamel Foundation. She performs on the legendary 1741 Ex-Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù violin and lives with her family in Los Angeles.