Michiko Theurer creates experiences that weave together people, ideas, sights, and sounds. As a violinist, she has collaborated with artists from Eighth Blackbird, the Takács Quartet, and the Pacifica Quartet. Her artistic and intellectual projects cross disciplinary and sensory borders, and include visual and intermedia art, installations, and conversational performances. She is a passionate advocate and performer of new music and collaborates frequently with composers and artists of a wide range of artistic backgrounds. Her research on Beethoven's sketches has been published in the Journal of Musicological Research, and collaborative work with theorist and pianist Daphne Leong on George Crumb's Four Nocturnes for Violin and Piano, along with their recordings of the nocturnes, will be published through Oxford University Press and in an upcoming symposium volume (Researching Performance, Performing Research). As a second-year PhD student in musicology at Stanford, she explores intersections between research, interdisciplinary creativity, and live performance. 

She holds a DMA in violin performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she studied with Harumi Rhodes and Edward Dusinberre. As a painter, Michiko has been the Artistic Partner of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival since 2006. Her visual and intermedia art, including paintings and video for her multimedia musical conversation Circling the Waves, frequently reflects her scholarly and performative engagement with music. Opera News described her interwoven paintings and video for ARCHITECT , an opera based on the life and work of architect Louis Kahn, as “convincingly evocative of architectural thought and creativity in general.”

She has served on the faculty of the Colorado Chamber Orchestra Academy and presented master classes and educational events through the Boulder Bach Festival, Amherst College, University of Montana, and East Carolina University. Michiko graduated from Amherst College with majors in English and music and received her MM in violin performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. 

Castello, Sonata No. 1 (Matthew Dirst, Harpsichord)

Chris Lortie, Jouska​ for solo violin and electronics

Poulenc, Sonata for Violin and Piano (Rose Lachman, piano)

Photo by Phil Taylor