Wai Mizutani & Friends

Date: Friday, September 7, 2018

Time: Social 6:00 PM followed by 7:00 PM Concert

Location: New Life Church, 1414 2nd Street West, Polson, MT

Price: $15.00

Where To Purchase: Tickets will be sold at the door.

Length Of Performance: 1-1/2 hours

Concert Details: Wai Mizutani & Friends will be performing a wide variety of music from Classical to Show Tunes. Wai will be accompanied by friends Lauren Welch on violin, Natilee Radosevich on piano, and vocalists Emily Baker, Amy Baker and Jay Baker.
Wai Mizutani renowned violinist, who escaped China at age 14, became the youngest 1st violinist in the Hong Kong Philharmonic orchestra at age 15. Wai has played in front of thousands at the famous Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bow. Internationally respected as one of the top violinists of our time, Wai has performed with world class super stars from pop, classic rock to operatic and classical including: Michael Jackson, Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti Andrea Bocelli and YoYo Ma.

Performer Bio: When Wai Mizutani graduated from The Juilliard School of Music in the mid-1980s, he was ready to quit playing the violin forever. Now a world-renowned musician, Mizutani had attended Juilliard out of respect for his mother, who insisted on his violin training as a child.

Mizutani spent his youth living with his mother, a lifetime pianist who had attended one of the most prestigious music schools in China. He had wanted to join the Chinese army, but his mother insisted he pursue music instead. She worked hard to get Wai out of China, and knew that music would be the skill that would make money once he was out.

The training was purely classical, with constrictions that Mizutani found repetitive and overbearing. By the time he had made it to the U.S. and graduated from Juilliard, Mizutani thought he would be done with the violin having fulfilled his calling as a son and planned to quit. As a musician, Wai was burning out, semi-wanting to retire. He remembered that his first violin luthier in the U.S. had an affinity for Montana, so Mizutani passed through the state on a road trip. He loved the lack of a speed limit, but wasn’t thrilled when it snowed three inches on his June birthday.

On a second visit, this time to play at a church in Evergreen in 2003 Mizutani passed through the town of Kalispell again and came to the conclusion “that it felt like home.”

He moved to Kalispell in 2007 but didn’t play the violin until he heard about local folks losing their homes during the recession. Mizutani offered to play during a fundraising event for the families. Soon afterwards he visited the high school music classes in the valley and was impressed by the students’ dedication to their musical endeavors. However, he learned that many of them gave it up when they finished high school, which led Mizutani to try starting up a youth orchestra.

Mizutani visited Flathead Valley Community College seeking a venue for the youth orchestra and instead wound up in conversations about teaching music. He figured a youth orchestra could be a way for them to maintain their skills from high school while also possibly earning a scholarship. Wai is now an adjunct professor at FVCC in the Music Department. Once teaching, he found that his love for music came back full force.

He started with two students — one of who, after two years, earned a music scholarship at MSU Bozeman — and now has over 45. Mizutani says that the best part of teaching is figuring out each student’s potential and helping them reach it, making it more of a collaboration between teacher and student, rather than a strict lesson. Mizutani says, “The growth in his students is just phenomenal! “