A golden opportunity.
Akiko Miyazawa in ‘An Evening with Cygnus Arioso’ at Whipper Snapper Distillery. Photo by Dasha Melnik.
Akiko Miyazawa like countless other people around the world, had her life placed on hold by COVID-19. She watched in disbelief as some of the biggest arts organizations in the world began to stand down their workers, unsure of what the future held for them. Out of this unbelievable situation, she saw an opportunity to pursue a dream she had for a long time - to bridge the gap between student and professional musicians, between dreams and reality. Together with renowned Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth, Cygnus Arioso made its first performance debut during the height of COVID-19. Akiko gives us a glimpse on her decision to begin a startup during a global pandemic crisis, her life as a professional musician to this point, and the influences that encouraged her to pursue her gift.
When did you realise you wanted to be a musician? What did that pathway look like?
When I first played in an opera house in Germany. I was 23 years old. Until then, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with my violin. But it was Tosca that I played an opera for the first time professionally, and my heart was completely made up.
Who are your top three influences in the music world and why?
This is a difficult question.. I have so many people in my life who have influenced me and navigated me in the right directions at the right time. I am forever grateful for everyone I’ve encountered, but if I absolutely must pick three, then they have to be:
My parents, and especially my mother for giving me all the essential educations, investing in so much time and money, and standing by me through the bumps in the road.
My teacher, Professor Magdalena Rezler for re-setting me up and fixing lots of problems I had in my playing - pretty much everything was not right!! When I first met her, she saw my hand and said, "you really shouldn't be playing violin with that tiny hand!". We spent 6 months only playing open strings (not a single piece of music, just fixing my bow arm). It was obviously not fun, but without her effort, I wouldn’t have been able to manage huge amount of playing I do now.
My husband, Lachlan. I don't know anyone as hard-working as he is. I feel like I'm finally catching up on the speed and hours of work he does after 10 years of living under the same roof. It's been a pretty interesting journey we have been riding together, considering how it started with some midnight conversations in the kitchen as flatmates in Germany, him working late nights, and me coming home from opera shows.
You are a violinist for one of the busiest orchestras in Australia. What does a typical week as a professional violinist for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra look like?
Our typical week would be the subscription concert week - We usually rehearse from Tuesday to Friday morning, then 2 shows on evenings of Friday and Saturday. We naturally need to prepare other up-coming programs outside those rehearsal time. Besides, I organize concerts for Cygnus Arioso and teach students, and on top of all that, I’m raising my 5-year old daughter. So, it's pretty busy I'd say!
Cygnus Arioso is your first start-up company. What inspired you to begin this venture?
It's nothing short to say it was COVID that inspired me. Before the pandemic, Cygnus Arioso was just my little private group where I played chamber music with friends outside WASO commitments. But when I saw how hard our performing arts industry was getting hit by this single virus, I strongly felt that I had to do something. So I created a platform especially dedicated to our local young players for their countless missed opportunities and for their future, as they are going to have to live through the post pandemic world, which nobody knows how it's going to look like in a long term. I wanted my initiative to be a place where we all come together and search for the possibilities to live sustainably as classical musicians, so we can continue to perform, and connect people through our music.
What is your favourite thing about being a musician?
Not only being able to play all my favorite music, the most important thing for me is that I am able to reach out to people around me through my music, connect with them and exchange our thoughts, our feelings and experiences. It really is like speaking another language - what music does and what we can do with music, is that it reaches much further down into our souls where spoken languages can't always get to.
You curated a series known as the Beethoven Sonata Cycle. What inspired this particular curation?
A few years ago, WASO presented Beethoven Symphony Cycle, where we played all 9 symphonies with our principal conductor Asher Fisch. What a monumental journey it was! Above all the physical demands and struggles, I was completely stunned by Beethoven's ability to write music, that express all possible angles of human emotions. It’s like he opens his arms and tells you that he knows it, he's been there too. I'm absolutely obsessed with Beethoven’s music, his strength and his understanding and observation of humanity. He constantly reminds me that I still know nothing, there is a lot more to discover. It is my dream to go through all his violin sonatas and string quartets, and relive this genius' life.
Author: Leanne Puttick