One on One with Markus - Yoko Hirota

​Yoko Hirota started playing the piano at the ago of four, in the Yamaha music program in Japan.

When she was just seven years old, she was being asked to practice eight hours a day.

It was a huge commitment and dedication says Hirota, but it lead to a career in music.

She and her husband Robert LeMay both teach in the music department at Laurentian University in Sudbury.

Demanding and rewarding life

The Canadian Music Centre says, "Japanese-Canadian pianist Yoko Hirota is considered one of the leading interpreters of contemporary piano repertory of her generation."

"I play the music by the composer who is still alive," says Hirota. "I get to work with the composer to help create what is in their mind."

But contemporary music isn't always an easy sell, says Hirota.

"I often explain to the audience what they are hearing and what to expect because it is very different than traditional music."

She admits that she doesn't always like what she hears. Hirota says she remembers a concert in Vancouver where an orchestral composer turned on an electric chainsaw in the middle of a piece. "But I just didn't like it, and that is fine," says Hirota.

"I tell my students,composing is exploring the sound and the timbre, and all kind of dimensions, not just melodic regular harmony, so you just have to be open about that," she says.

Hirota knew she would dedicate her life to music once she got into the doctoral music program at McGill University. She moved to Canada to be with her husband who is from Montreal. She and Robert Lemay met when they were both exchange students in the US.

Hirota does go back to Japan at least once a year to see family.

She says she likes living in Canada because there are lots of grants she can access that support artists.

Hirota says it is a demanding and rewarding life.

"Some ot the pieces on my CDs I've pent years practicing and perfecting because of the rhythmic challenge is so much. Physically it is very demanding."