Philip Rham chats with Yura Zaiki and discovers what makes her tick, as she prepares to perform the Grieg Piano Concerto with us on March 15th.

Philip Here I am with Yura Zaiki, who is going to play the Grieg Piano Concerto at our upcoming concert at St. Gabriels on March 15th and, Yura, I read with interest that you came here to study at the Junior Royal Academy at the age of fourteen! That must have been hard, that was a big decision to come here at that age, wasn’t it?

Yura Yes but I moved with my family so that wasn’t too bad and I wasn’t on my own.

Philip So did your parents give up everything to be with you?

Yura No,we moved to the UK because of my father's job and they knew it was going to be temporary for them.

Philip Are they musical in any way? Is that how you got into playing the piano?

Yura Yes my mum is a classical singer - that’s why I started playing the piano with her as my teacher when I was three.

Philip And your father, is he musical at all?

Yura NO not at all!

Philip But he supports you and then of course, he’s married to a singer - he’s probably followed her round the world. Or did she stay more in Japan?

Yura In Japan.

Philip Did she sing classical Western music or Japanese traditional repertoire?

Yura She started off with the classical works, opera etc but now she does more Japanese folk music.

Philip So it wasn’t too bad for you at 14 but it was still a big culture shock, I imagine Now you were very successful at the Junior Academy but then you decided to go to Scotland for your BMus - at what point did you think in your mind, you wanted to become a professional soloist? Maybe the fact you decided to come to UK?

Yura I always kind of knew that becoming a professional soloist was what I wanted to do. Even before moving to the UK, I was already doing competitions in Japan so it was always part of my journey.

Philip Which part of Japan are you from?

Yura Chiba, a city outside Tokyo.

Philip So how long were you at the Junior Academy?

Yura I only stayed there for one year. In fact I didn’t really fit in, I couldn’t speak English at all; I didn’t really do well because I couldn’t communicate with my teachers.

Philip Obviously things went better when you went to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, although that’s a different feel again, slightly colder!! Did you enjoy your time there or was it hard at the start?

Yura It was hard for me at first, but at the same time, it was really relaxing. I enjoyed it in the sense that I had a lot of freedom, which allowed me to grow both as a musician and as a person.

Philip So you were 15 or 16 then?

Yura No about 18 because after my one year at Junior Academy I studied privately with William Fong.

Philip Oh I see and then at 18 you went up to Glasgow and by that time you could speak English very well but then you had to get your ear accustomed to the Scottish accent!

Yura Yes indeed!

Philip Just going back to your musical life, was there one piece of music that impressed you when you were young, say as four or five year old? Or maybe a concert you went to? Or a pianist you heard? Or a recording?

Yura I think what makes me different from other pianists is that I wasn’t particularly keen on listening to music when I was young. I was more drawn to the sounds in nature and to silence - it was very special to me. Instead of focusing on sound, I was really fascinated by the beautiful effect of silence.

Philip Oh that’s fascinating for a musician to say that. So music partitions up, breaks that silence with sound - that is an interesting way of looking at things. But did you go to concerts when you were young?

Yura I did attend concerts occasionally, but not very often. Classical music is incredibly powerful for me - it’s a very intense emotional experience. I think this is partly because I was raised with a Japanese background, and Japanese culture, in general, tends to be more calming.

Philip That makes sense, as what I see as a Westerner looking in on Japanese culture, it is very formal and restrained, like the tea ceremony and Noh theatre. There are distinct rituals to follow, people are not exuberant, life is very contained and respectful, which creates a peace and a calm. That chimes in with your love of Ashtanga yoga which we’ll come to later but first I’d like to talk about the music some more. So you’re going to be playing the Grieg with us, Yura. Have you played it before in concert?

Yura It was the first concerto I ever played, funnily enough.

Philip Oh wonderful and which orchestra was that?

Yura At my sixth form in Potters Bar.

Philip Ah I see! So after you left the Academy you went to an actual school and had a traditional education, did your A levels and then went up to Glasgow, is that right?

Yura Yes, that's right! I really enjoyed my studies - I took maths, biology, chemistry, and music for my A-levels.

Philip So how do you now approach a new work, for instance? Although I think I know the answer to this, but do you listen to previous performances or do you just study the score and gauge how you respond emotionally to it?

Yura So now I’m learning about Nordic myths, specifically for this piece. I’m very interested in how the music was composed - perhaps even more than the music itself. I like to explore what inspired the composer, like what made Grieg compose this music.

Philip Well, it’s a fascinating story because it was one of his first works, he was very young when he wrote this, 24, and all though his life he was constantly revising the piece - in fact there are 300 revisions in all and the final version, which is now the accepted one, was only completed two weeks before he died. This concerto really spanned his whole life. And you can tell that third movement has that dance rhythm. So do you think he was directly inspired by Norwegian traditional music then?

Yura I haven’t come to that conclusion yet, but I do feel that Grieg’s music is very different from other composers.

Philip In what way?

Yura It reminds me of Scotland.

Philip Indeed, there is that definite Gaelic lilt to the rhythm there.

Yura It feels really earthy to me, and compared to other music, I don’t find it as authoritative or controlling - it feels more connected to nature. There’s a sense of freedom in it, which makes exploring Grieg’s music particularly fascinating.

Philip So you are still on a voyage of discovery in effect . And of course the actual piece is full of contrasts, isn’t it? Even within a movement - like the last movement, the dance section suddenly turns into a very much slower contemplative passage, only to start up again and rush to a climax. Then again there is the contrast with the tragic fate motif of the beginning as opposed to the slow movement that is so lyrically tender and calm. Is that the challenge for you? What do you want people to come away with? Or perhaps you don’t even think in those terms?

Yura To be able to play authentically is really important for me.

Philip And authentic for you means, true to his vision, to his inspiration?

Yura To really know his intentions and his culture, because I feel music represents the composer’s spirit, and that’s why it can survive for so many years after its composition. To be authentic is to understand the time the composer lived in and the composer himself, and finding that within a piece is really challenging. This music feels so rich in nature and so pure to me that, in a way, it almost makes me feel my mind is not clean enough in contrast. We live in modern times that are often materialistic, and I feel like I need to strip all of that away to connect with the essence of the piece. That can be quite challenging.

Philip I am sure you will rise to that challenge. And you carry on your studies now - who is your present teacher?

Yura I do not have a teacher now, but I have visited my former teacher William Fong recently, who originally taught me the Grieg concerto.

Philip Oh that’s wonderful. And what do you do apart from your music, what do you do when you want to relax?

Yura I like cooking.

Philip Yes well I have in front of me one of Yura’s home-made chocolates (Pause) And I can report they are delicious!!

Yura Thank you. I enjoy cooking Japanese food as well as a variety of other cuisines.

Philip And I read here you are very much into the caring of animals, to the point of setting up an organisation called Cerasus.

Yura I love them.

Philip How did you get into caring for them? Did you have a pet?

Yura Yes, an Italian greyhound in Japan - that loved to run a lot and always shivered! My mother and I started Cerasus after the earthquake at Fukushima nuclear plant, people had to be evacuated and dogs and cats were abandoned.

Philip What did you set up? A sanctuary to look after them?

Yura No just raising funds for an established shelter.

Philip That’s marvellous! Now do you listen to any other kind of music to relax? Japanese folk music possibly?

Yura Yes, I sometimes listen to pop music. I play it as background music.

Philip I notice you also do Ashtanga yoga - how many times a week?

Yura I used to do five days a week.

Philip So you’re very flexible now I imagine but yoga’s also for the mind, relaxing your body. Do you find it helps when you perform, to counter any nerves?

Yura I think so, yes. Yoga teaches me about both the physical and mental aspects of myself. There was a time when I didn’t want to play the piano anymore. I took a break from it for about a year a few years ago, which was a big decision for me. During that time, I started practising yoga every morning because I was really afraid of becoming lazy. Piano had been such a large part of my life, and I wondered, if I didn’t practise piano, what would I do?

Philip In a way that was brave to take that decision - you’re obviously listening to your body, your feelings, and brave to say to yourself ”No I actually need to have time away”. So Ashtanga yoga helped you find a core, a centre again, is that right?

Yura Yes, it made me mentally and physically flexible, cleared my mind, and helped me regain my sense of direction.

Philip And were you back in London by this time? Because you also did a masters degree in Glasgow, right?

Yura Yes, so by the time I finished I was 24. I had been doing yoga for ten years but on and off, I started with Ashtanga again during my time off and it helped me find myself again and come back to music. And now I feel I know that I am weak and that makes me stronger.

Philip Interesting because like me in my acting, there’s a weird kind of paradox. You need to be vulnerable and giving and yet you still need to be secure and to have a self- confidence. That is the irony of performing - you need to connect with your soul and emotions and at the same time you have to be professional and be technically 100%. It’s a matter of not being arrogant but self- assured.

Yura Yes, absolutely I agree.

Philip What are your plans for the future - have you concerts lined up?

Yura I like culture and story-telling, and I enjoy structuring my concerts with a theme, almost like telling a story, like a book. It helps me understand music as a whole. This is something I want to continue. Right now, I'm working on one with an Indian theme.

Philip Well we have a theme for our concert as well - we’re calling it Northern Lights so you’ll be part of that. And then a concert with Japanese music possibly? Is there anything you miss about Japanese culture - the food?

Yura The water is different here!

Philip Yes that’s really important for making proper tea, isn’t it? And the countryside is different, of course. Do you go back to Japan often?

Yura Yes, maybe once a year, to see my family.

Philip Now just to finish off, as in fact we’ve covered practically everything, I always like to ask my guests to imagine you can invite anybody from the past or present from any area of life to a dinner and what would you cook for them? It can be anybody from the past, a composer or a pianist - actually, we haven’t talked about which pianist you admire?

Yura Oh, Claudio Arrau. So to my dinner I’d like to invite Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner and Picasso and I’ll do a sushi party.

Philip I’d pay good money to see Wagner eating sushi - or Franz Liszt for that matter!! And sashimi too?

Yura Yes of course - and tempura!

Philip Wonderful! So Yura, thank you for your time, and we look forward to playing the Grieg with
you.

Yura My pleasure!