HONOLULU SYMPHONY

Beloved violinist happy
to be in Hawaii

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By Burl Burlingame
bburlingame@starbulletin.com

People having been raving about violinist Anne Akiko Meyers for more than a quarter-century, and she's only 31. "Almost hopelessly beautiful," moonily reported The Strad magazine.

"As she declared the themes of the first movement, as the bow struck the violin strings in increasingly agitated spurts of musical ideas, it was as though she were building a fire ignited by the sparks of sound that leaped from her soul ..." breathlessly noted the Dayton Daily News, and then the reporter had an afterglow cigarette.

Step back from the gee-whiz sparkle of the high-end classical-music circuit -- she's playing with the Honolulu Symphony this weekend -- and what you've got is a hard-working young woman who spends her life in anonymous airplanes and giant hotels and strange cities.

"Polyester," says Meyers, "is my friend. The gown is wrinkled; you hang it in the hotel shower and hope it straightens out. It's every guy's nightmare to deal with that, but women do it constantly.

"What do I do? There's no time to do much, wherever I am. Rehearsals. Walk around and look at buildings, which are usually deserted when I'm free. More rehearsals. (Sigh) It can be lonely."

Her life has largely been devoted to music, ever since her Suzuki violin classes began to bore her as a toddler.

"I was the star freak in the family," she admits. Sister Toni is a doctor, mother Yakko an artist and father Richard is a university president.

Before Meyers was a teen, she'd soloed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and fiddled with a quartet of child prodigies. Then came Juilliard and studies under the great Dorothy Delay, her first recording at age 19 -- the "Barber Concerto," which is featured this weekend -- and then a young life forever on the road, lugging polyester evening gowns and a $2 million Guarnerius violin, leaving gorgeous music in her wake.

"The hardest part is jet lag," she says. "It kills me. Fifty years ago, musicians traveled everywhere by boat, and there's no such a thing as boat lag. I'm like a business traveler, very focused, very scientific. No layovers! Clean sheets! A gym! Get me through security! I love being in Hawaii, by the way. Fresh air, the blue water, and everyone looks like a relative."

This musical carpetbagger managed to snare a fella despite the frequent flier bonuses. "Music is NOT a choice for me, but it is for my fiance," she says, giggling. "He's a banker, so he knows what it's like to travel. It's difficult to have a long-distance relationship, but I'm already cutting back on three-week tours. Doing silly things together with the guy you love is what life's all about."

Anne Akiko Meyers Performs with the Honolulu Symphony Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and 4 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $15 to $55 Call: 792-2000

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