Today we’d like to introduce you to Sayaka Tanikawa.
Hi Sayaka, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Co-artistic directors of the Duluth Chamber Music Festival — Sayaka Tanikawa (pianist) and Matt Young (violist) — met as graduate students at Yale School of Music in New Haven, CT. “Even though our work has taken us to the opposite coasts of the US, we continue to collaborate by playing chamber music. A few times a year, we would fly to Duluth to gather with our friends who have settled there.
We absolutely love Duluth, whether we are making music, sailing on Lake Superior, or sampling great beers at local breweries! The Twin Ports truly feel like a second home to us both. We make lots of music when we are in town, both with and for our Minnesotan friends. Our spontaneous music-making for our friends during our many visits here has inspired the beginnings of the Duluth Chamber Music Festival.”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Building a festival from scratch is a hugely rewarding experience, but there are certainly some unexpected challenges along the way. Hosting ten people (artists and staff members for the festival) during our inaugural season last summer was definitely one of them! We both love to cook, but preparing meals for that many people was a different story. Walking all over Duluth in the beautiful summer weather as we promoted the festival was a new level of getting to know small businesses and the geography of the Twin Ports. We also had a few opportunities to wear non-music-making hats, such as Matt learning to fix antique toilets.
We are still in the process of figuring out the many details of running the DCMF, such as finding new and meaningful ways of building community through music and creating partnerships with local businesses and organizations. We are grateful for the enthusiasm, creativity, and support of our amazing board and staff members, who have an impressively diverse set of skills. Our passion for music and our mission to bring quality music to the Duluth area are the core values of our program and the inspiration that keeps us moving forward.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Matt Young: I lived and worked in Minnesota for 7 years as a violist in the Minnesota Orchestra and as a McKnight fellow. Now that I live and work in California, coming back to Minnesota feels like home! I feel really blessed to have this second home and such wonderful friends here.
Sayaka Tanikawa: I am a pianist, and I also lecture at Hunter College and the Juilliard School in New York. I particularly enjoy the collaborative aspect of chamber music, and I am very excited that I get to make music in Duluth, which is a very special place for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://duluthchambermusicfestival.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duluthchambermusicfestival/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082766273989
Image Credits
Matt Young, Sayaka Tanikawa, Derek Montgomery, and Essentia Health
