Squamish's Yuko Iwanaga is an accomplished violinist who is as at home on a stage or teaching budding musicians as she is in the alpine or hanging off a rock face.
The Chief sat down with Iwanaga, 45, for a chat about her three passions: music, mountains, and teaching.
What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about your upbringing?
A: I was raised in Tokyo, Japan. I grew up without knowing my dad much, which was unusual in my era, in Japan. My mom raised me and my brother by herself. My grandparents were farmers in northern Japan.
Q: When did you come to Squamish?
A: I came to Canada in 1994 for the mountains and teaching. I was in Burnaby originally. A funny thing is, I was in Burnaby and was looking at the North Shore mountains from the window of my homestay family's home. I said to myself, ‘Oh, the Rockies are smaller than I thought.' Eventually, I realized they were not the Rockies, so I moved to Cranbrook.
I came to Squamish in 2007. Before that I was in different places, then I met my husband, who is a rock climber who lived here.
Q: What is your first memory of music?
A: When I was in kindergarten, one day a little string orchestra came in to play for us. I was five years old, and that is when I decided, ‘That is what I want to do.' My mom loves classical music and played it all the time. She took me to classical music concerts.
Q: And you have always stuck with the violin, reaching the highest level possible in the Suzuki method. What is it about that instrument? It isn't the easiest thing to learn to play.
A: It is a big time commitment for sure. I have never had one day — not one single day — when I didn't want to play it.
Q: This is perhaps like asking a parent to pick a favourite child, but do you have a favourite piece you like to play?
A: There are so many pieces out there that I love.
Just like there are endless mountains to be skied or hiked or climbed, there are so many pieces to be explored.
For a quartet piece, I enjoy playing Dvořák / String Quartet No. 12 American.
When playing with my awesome, accomplished violist, I love Passacaglia composed by Handel-Halvorsen.
If I am playing in a string orchestra, I love Adagio for Strings by Albinoni. And my favourite violin concerto is Tchaikovsky's violin concerto.
Q: You founded the Sea to Sky String Orchestra in 2014, what has that done for you?
A: I love teaching — it is one of my purposes for being, sharing my passion for music. I think everyone has some calling and this is it for me.
Q: What got you into teaching?
A: I like teaching any kind of skill. It doesn't have to be the violin. In the summer I bring my summer camp students to my house in the morning for violin lessons then I take them out hiking, and then they come back to the house, and I teach them Japanese cooking.
Q: I understand you also make adorable and personalized little Christmas ornaments for students and friends?
A: The ornaments are people decorated to relate to the person getting the gift. I have to start in September. For example, one is a fellow playing the saxophone for someone who plays the sax. For my student [Coun.] Susan Chapelle, it is her massaging someone on a table. One is someone weightlifting; another is jumping rope. Another is a person in a U-Haul with a piano in the back because this woman was moving to Squamish from Pemberton. I make about 100 pieces each year.
Q: You are into mountains and teaching and violin — do they all work together as passions or does one stand out?
A: With violin, I am confident this is what I am going to do for the rest of my life. With mountaineering, I don't know if physically I can do it forever. I will continue it though.
Q: Can you tell me about your mountaineering?
A: I like to hike in places that are really hard to get to. I like to isolate myself. I like being with people, but I also love being alone.
Q: You hike, climb and backcountry ski. Do any of your adventures stand out?
A:. I get out every weekend. One adventure that stands out is when I was alpine climbing. I was climbing with a friend a long time ago, and there was slack on the rope, and it was so windy so my partner couldn't hear me. The rock I happened to grab was loose, so it came off. I flipped 360 degrees and smacked my head. At the time I didn't think or care about having a possible concussion. My adrenaline at the time just kept me going. I think I was in shock.
But now I know why I felt so exhausted later.
I have had lots of injuries, for sure. For example, I planned to rollerblade from Calgary to Cranbrook in 1998. My friends talked me into only rollerblading from Fernie B.C. to Cranbrook. I did 50 km and then wiped out down a big hill near Lake Koocanusa. Of course, I had no helmet and no protection. It was a very bloody trip. The area where I wiped out on was a big stretch of downhill with tiny rocks. I tumbled down into a ditch. I eventually stood up and kept going while bleeding from everywhere. After going for another few hours, finally, I arrived in the town of Joffre. I walked into a store for water, and people saw me and were shocked. One of them happened to be a paramedic. He patched me up and gave me a ride.
