Profile

Aiko Heidi Dillon was first introduced to the public on a Tokyo Broadcasting System 60th Anniversary television special in 2016 at the age of seven. The television special gave a documentary style preview of her life growing up in as a highly gifted child violinist and polyglot.

Born in 2008, Aiko Heidi began going to music classes for fun as a very small child. After she persistently requested to play the violin her parents enrolled her in a local violin program in St. Paul Minnesota, at the age of four. There she discovered that she loved playing and performing with her Violin. She was engaged in the full Suzuki music education method until moving to Florida in 2014 at the age of five. By that time, it was apparent that she had a special gift for music and playing the violin.

In Florida, Aiko Heidi left the Suzuki method for a more traditional pedagogical approach. She musically progressed quickly outgrowing standard children's violin repertoire. In 2015 at the age of six she began studying with Transylvania born International Violin Virtuoso Robert Davidovici (former student of Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School). Maestro Davidovici quickly became her beloved Teacher, Mentor and friend.

Aiko Heidi Moved to New York City in 2016 at the age of eight to continue to pursue her music education. There she performed in concerts while continuing to study violin with Maestro Davidovici and other music educators from The Juilliard School and Mannes School of Music. While in New York City she had many great performances including performing Bach Violin Concerto in A Minor at Carnegie Hall, performing with the notable Harlem String Quartet and performing at sponsored Salon Concerts. In 2017 at the age of nine she relocated to Budapest Hungary to study music with Emmy Award winning Violin Virtuoso Vilmos Oláh. In 2018 Aiko Heidi performed at her first major concert in Europe at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, Great Hall. The event was hosted by famed pianist, conductor and former Child Prodigy Maestro Tamás Vásáry and aired on Hungarian National Radio.

Aiko Heidi’s unique ability with her violin is not the mere memorization of notes or technique, but her ability to feel and share her emotions through the music she plays. Her family knew something was different about her when she would often tear up listening to classical music as a small child. After playing a classical composition she would often tell people what she envisioned when playing it; describing animals running, mountains, valleys & rivers, or Nymphs & Satyrs Dancing. Every piece of music she learned had a new story to describe every movement in the piece.

Aiko Heidi spends her days:

  • Studying Music and Violin under the direction of Vilmos Oláh, with support of many great musicians and her original Mentor Robert Davidovici

  • Keeping up with her love of language and culture; speaking, reading and studying in English, Japanese, French & Hungarian

  • Continuing progress in her favorite academic subjects: Mathematics & Science

  • Going to the park with family and her dog Tiffany

  • Spending time with friends

Instrument:

  • A Handcrafted violin by famous Hungarian Luthier Pál Sáránszky (1919 - 2000).

  • Aiko Heidi was was honored to receive the violin from the Sáránszky family and performed with it in 2019 at a Pál Sáránszky Centennial Anniversary Concert in honor of the birth of this great Hungarian Luthier.

Passions:

  • All things Violin and Classical Music

  • The music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  • Opera and Theater

  • Animals, Nature, The Sea & Stars