Questions and Answers with a Violinist by Celebrity Access

LONDON (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) -- Songwriter and Violinist Diana Yukawa is on the brink of something extraordinary.

Having released 3 solo albums with Sony and BMG/RCA the half English half Japanese 26 year old feels that she has finally created the sound she has be striving for. Diana’s life story is film worthy, melodramatically so. In 1985, her father died in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123, the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history. Born a month later, Diana was moved back to London where she was raised.

Diana’s colourful career to date has seen her perform at many prestigious venues all over the world. More recently she has dazzled audiences at Tivoli Festival, Burj Dubai for the 2012 New Year Concert, to a sold-out Hollywood Bowl, 100’000 people at the Dubai World Cup, 60’000 people at a Khalifa Stadium in Qatar, with Katherine Jenkins in concert and headlining for Picnic Concerts at Kenwood House in London.

Q

So what is this “new sound” all about?

A Well, it's all about a long musical journey I have been on to create the music I've been so passionate to make. It's combining different sounds that I love with the violin and finding the right balance of electronic and acoustic. It's about love - love for music!

Q How would you describe it?

A It's really hard to describe, but I suppose you could say it's a blend of classical and electronic. It lends itself really well to visuals, because I think it's very atmospheric and emotive - lots of people say it sounds very filmy.

Q Which genre would you find it in a record shop

A Ha! I have no idea… Let's make a new genre. "Modern Classical".

Q What do you enjoy the most about what you do?

A I love all the creative aspects of what I do but I think performing is my favourite part, as it means what you've been working so hard at, what you have put so much blood and sweat into has its chance to connect with the audience. You hope that your music will mean something to another person, a stranger, anybody. So when you can see and feel that it is having a positive impact on someone listening, it's a pretty wonderful feeling.

Q What is your goal with your music?

A My goal is to create music that connects with listeners and to also reach people who perhaps wouldn't ordinarily listen to my kind of music, or more "classical" and instrumental music. I want my music to evoke emotions.. it's really as simple as that.

Q Where did it all begin?

A It all began when I was five years old and begging my mother for a violin. When she finally gave in, I fell in love with the violin and very soon declared that I was going to grow up and become a professional violinist. Nothing has changed 21 years later.

Q What do you want your listeners to get from your music?

A I simply want them to connect with it and hopefully enjoy listening to it and whatever journey the music will take them on…

Q Originally a violinist, did songwriting come naturally to you?

A Not exactly, coming away from doing things the classical way, it was hard to even think I could be worthy of creating music of my own. It was quite a long and hard process, but the longer I have been on that path, the more I love it and find new ways of being creative and writing music. It has been a necessary part of evolving as an artist and not just being a musician. It's important to always keep growing and learning new things.

Q What’s your greatest Achievement musically?

A I have no idea, I don't really have one! Once I've finished a piece of music, an album, a project or a concert, I move on from it quite quickly and want to start the next thing and make sure it's getting better than whatever happened previously. I guess my greatest achievement is when/if my music speaks to someone's soul. I'm pretty happy with that :)

Q Are you working on any other projects?

A Well I'm currently working on my new music, which I've just started putting online so people can get to hear the new sound if they want to. It's been a long journey to this point, but I'm really excited at how things are coming together and what the next album is hopefully shaping up to be.

Q Any Plans for collaborations?

A I'm currently working with John Foxx and Benge on an album we have been working on for a little while. I'm loving exploring a new direction and how our different influences are coming together and creating something quite unexpected. It's sounding really beautiful and I can't wait to find out how people will respond to it!

Q What/Who are your Musical inspirationsI have so many inspirations…

A I love people like Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Kreisler to artists at the other end of the spectrum, like Massive Attack, Radiohead and Antony & The Johnsons. What they all have in common is that their music comes from the heart. Music isn't about labels, categories or boundaries. Good music is good music - a language that we can all understand.

Q Final thought?

A Green tea ice-cream

Modern Violinist – Diana Yukawa Website

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Songwriter and Violinist Diana Yukawa was asked to give a talk at The Cambridge Union Society on 2nd May.

Diana Yukawa was asked to give her address as part of the Golden Festival, the last big party before the exam crunch comes in. The London based Violinist and Songwriter was invited to talk owing to her continued contribution the arts as well as her fascinating heritage and life story.

The Cambridge Union is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious student debating societies. Their debates serve to engage and to challenge the presumptions and prejudices of a wide range of ideas, opinions and beliefs through the use of rational argument and credible intellectual exchange, and the speaker events provide a forum for young people to challenge and learn from public figures from a variety of backgrounds.

Diana Yukawa now joins the long list of powerful, influential and best known figures from around the globe who have given an address at the Cambridge Union. In 1990, at the end of the Cold War, US President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at the Union, in which he reflected candidly on how he had steered the American course through the tense years of the 1980s.

Some other prominent speakers include; Hollywood actor and director Clint Eastwood, UK Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, UK Prime Minister Clement Attlee, UK Prime Minister Sir John Major, Indian Prime Minister Nehru and US President Theodore Roosevelt; and there are many more besides...

The Anglo-Japanese Violinist was honoured to be invited to talk whilst the room seemed to reciprocate her address. Diana comments “it was strange to be in front of an audience without my violin but I was made exceptionally welcome” she continues “it really was a great honour to be asked to be involved in this event”.

The exact origin of the Society remains steeped in legend, but as the story goes, the Union was founded in 1815 at the conclusion of a drunken brawl between several smaller college debating societies. The "union" of the three societies provided the basis for the name 'The Cambridge Union Society.'

The award winning violinist released her debut album at the age of 15 through BMG RCA and released her second album a year later. Diana then embarked on her journey to write original music for the violin which she did and released through Sony Music in Japan in 2009.

Diana Yukawa is currently in the studio working on her 4th solo album - a refreshing yet respected new sound for the violin, something truly revolutionary.

In-between her studio work the Solo Violinist will be preparing for a performance of her original music at the Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen on 31st May. Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen is one of Scandinavia's largest music festival! This year's festival runs from 1 May to 31 May 2012 and Diana will perform on 31st May. The violinist will perform some of her latest original music.

Diana’s revolutionary sound can be heard on her brand new website; http://www.dianayukawa.com. New images, videos and latest activities can be viewed here.

Her sound is best described as... "listen and you'll see"?

2012 New Years Eve at Burj Khalifa with Diana Yukawa

New Years Eve at the Burj Khalifa 2012 will see the extraordinary solo violinist Diana Yukawa take to the stage to see in the 2012 New Year for Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.

The modern violinist will be performing with the Grammy Award winning musical group Deep Forest, notorious for composing a style of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and dance beats or chillout beats.

December 2011 / January 2012
The fireworks show gets underway on the stroke of midnight in what is likely to be the world’s highest pyrotechnic show. Thousands will be witnessing an extravagant fireworks display for the New Year from Dubai's Burj Khalifa building to ring in 2012, with many more expected to watch on television and online.
The Burj Khalifa (Khalifa Tower) is now by far the world's tallest building in the world standing at 829.84 m (2,722.57 ft) much taller than the previous record holder, Taipei 101 (1,666 ft).
Clad in 28,000 glass panels, the tower has 160 floors and more than 500,000 sq m of space for offices and flats. The tower also lays claim to the highest occupied floor, the tallest service lift, and the world's highest observation deck - on the 124th floor. The world's highest mosque and swimming pool are located on the 158th and 76th floors.
The Burj Dubai is now in the league of the most popular global New Year celebrations and Downtown Dubai will take centre stage and light up the Dubai skyline with an unprecedented and breathtaking ambience fused perfectly with a the performance by Diana Yukawa and Deep Forest.
The award winning solo violinist and songwriter has had 3 successful solo albums with Sony Music/BMG. Diana’s latest album “The Butterfly Effect”, featuring original music written by the violinist, comprises a new modern sound for the violin, far removed from her previous classical albums. But the violinist isn’t stopping there – Diana is back in the studio pushing the sound even further for her next album.
At only 26, Diana has led an extraordinary life. Born in Tokyo to an English ballet dancer and a Japanese banker just 3 weeks after the 1985 Japan Airlines disaster that took her father’s life, Diana has crossed cultural boundaries in her personal life and is pushing to cross even further in her professional life as a talented and much celebrated violinist and songwriter.
Its sure to be a busy and exciting year for the young violinist

2012 New Years Eve Burj Dubai

Dubai Violinist

Solo Violinist

Emeralds and Ivy with Diana Yukawa

Violinist Diana Yukawa has been asked to take to the stage for Ronan Keating and friends at the sixth annual Emeralds & Ivy Ball this December.
Singing sensation Leona Lewis will also take to the stage to perform some of her greatest hits in front of a showbiz audience at Supernova in Embankment Gardens, London.
This is one of London’s most prestigious and entertaining calendar events. Past guests have rubbed shoulders with Rod Stewart, Jon Bon Jovi, Sir Steve Redgrave and Jodie Kidd, and been treated to intimate performances including Gary Barlow, The Saturdays, Ronan Keating himself and soon revolutionary Violinist Diana Yukawa.
The Emeralds & Ivy Ball celebrates the partnership between Cancer Research UK and the Marie Keating Foundation and has raised an incredible £3.3 million since it began. All of the money raised on the night from the exclusive auctions will fund vital mobile Cancer Information Units travelling across the UK and Ireland.
The charity ball raised £730,000 for Cancer Research UK and the Marie Keating Foundation last year, helping to fund two mobile Cancer Awareness Roadshow units, staffed by specialist nurses and health advisors.
This year’s glittering list of celebrity guests includes Ronan Keating, Leona Lewis, James Corden, David Gandy, Kara Tointon, Rod Stewart, Penny Lancaster-Stewart, Alan Shearer, Sharon Corr, Sol Campbell, Michael Flatley and Gloria Hunniford.
Ronan Keating has chosen purpose-built venue Supernova in London's Embankment Gardens as the location for this December's Emeralds & Ivy event. The lucky guest can expect a exceptional bespoke show with epic visual from the talented violinist.
Saturday 3rd December, 7pm-2am at Supernova, Embankment Gardens, London.

Violinist Diana Yukawa

Emeralds and Ivy 2011

Violinist in London

Diana Performs at Festival Of Thinkers 2011

The Violinist dazzled the audience with a surprise performance at Emirates Palace for the Festival of Thinkers 2011 gala dinner in Abu Dhabi.

Officially there as a guest of Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, the audience were treated by a very special, surprise solo performance by the young, revolutionary violinist.
The Festival of Thinkers conference in the United Arab Emirates is an opportunity to celebrate innovative ideas that inspire collaborative actions.
The Higher Colleges of Technology marked the start of its 40th National Day celebrations with the launch of its signature event - the 4th biennial Festival of Thinkers conference.
The Festival is dedicated to the ongoing celebration of the power and importance of thinking. It focuses on the role of scientists, academics, leaders and thinkers in the renewal and progress of human societies. That is, there will be a focus on their roles in generating ideas, solving problems, sustaining the environment, promoting health in the world’s communities and nurturing the values of global peace and understanding.
The modern violinist has been invited to the Festival of Thinkers conference every year since its conception, affirming Diana’s place as one of the best ambassadors representing the arts.

Violinist Diana Yukawa

Festival of Thinkers 2011

Violinist in Abu Dhabi

Diana Yukawa Opens the Katie Piper Foundation - My Beautiful Ball

The Katie Piper Foundation hosted its first My Beautiful Ball at the Savoy Hotel in London on 1st September to raise funds for the Katie Piper charity.

Diana Yukawa opened the evening with a piece of music from her last album.

The violinist was extremely impressed by the dedication and courage by Katie Piper and her fellow ambassadors to help burns and scar victims.

Katie Piper is a beautiful young woman, rebuilding her life after surviving a brutal attack in 2008, where sulphuric acid was thrown in her face.

Katie Piper spent seven weeks in the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, before starting a two year stint where she wore a special plastic pressure mask for 23 hours of every day. Prior to the attack, Katie was a model and budding TV presenter with a hectic social life and a glowing future in the public eye. The attack ruined Katie from the inside out. Like many, she believed her life was over now that she was a ‘burns victim’.

Following pioneering surgery, led by Mr Mohammad Jawad FRCS, Katie was referred to Centre Ster in Lamalou-les-Bains, a specialist rehabilitation centre in France. This centre had a remarkable impact on her recovery, both mentally and physically. It was here, whilst interacting with other burns survivors, that she made the most progress in regaining control of her life.

The Katie Piper Foundation was set up to make a difference to burns survivors.

The Foundation is ultimately working towards the delivery of an advanced rehabilitation and burns clinic in the UK. This will in time, include residential facilities for patients, enabling them to benefit fully from treatments and from social interaction with other survivors.

The Violinist is very proud to have supported this charity along with other guests such as patron Simon Cowell and Leona Lewis.

If you are in a position to do so you can donate to the Katie Piper Foundation by going to the website.

Violinist Diana Yukawa

My Beautiful Ball article

Violinist Supports the Katie Piper Foundation