Rachel Iwaasa’s collaborative “Klavierklang” blurs lines between memory, sound, and film

Rachel Iwaasa has built her musical career around projects that explode expectations of what is possible at the piano. As a classically-trained pianist with a multidisciplinary perspective, coupled with a special interest in contemporary music, Rachel’s work flourishes most powerfully in liminal collisions between genres.

Recent support from the Amplify BC Career Development program has supported Rachel to bring her projects to life, Rachel explains, “The funding I’ve received from the Career Development program over the past year has enabled three specific projects of mine to take flight. Funding primarily supported Klavierklang (‘piano sound’), a short film in collaboration with film director Nettie Wild and composer Hildegard Westerkamp.”

Rachel continues, “Beyond this, the grant also enabled me to invest in promotional support for two of my existing albums on Redshift Records: Known and Unknown: Solo Piano Works by Rodney Sharman, and The Sex Lives of Vegetables: The Music of Leslie Uyeda, with soprano Heather Pawsey and clarinettist AK Coope. The funding also enabled me to secure new promotional photos from artist SD Holman, who’s also the photographer behind the cover art for those albums, and who has also been involved in bringing Klavierklang to life on film.”

With the Career Development program, B.C.-based artists can apply for support for any combination of sound recording, music video, and marketing activities that demonstrate the potential for them to sustainably grow their music business through increased income and market reach, deepened connections to audiences, and the creation of additional economic activity within the B.C. music industry. The program supports all genres of music – from pop, to rock, to R&B, rap, and also encompasses more avant-garde and experimental sounds, which is a realm in which Rachel uniquely thrives.

Beyond the economic impact and career momentum achieved in the completion of these projects, Rachel’s time spent developing them has also deepened creative ties to B.C.-based composers with whom she has enjoyed long periods of collaboration.

As Rachel explains, “Klavierklang, the film, and the two Redshift albums that were served by this project are all the fruits of long-term collaborations with each of the composers. For example, I’ve been playing the music of Rodney Sharman since 1999, Leslie Uyeda since 2006, and Hildegard Westerkamp since 2008.”

Klavierklang represents a particular expression of the deep trust and respect between Rachel and the composer behind the project. Hildegard Westerkamp composed Klavierklang, especially for Rachel in recognition of an element of their shared musical past: the solo piano piece conveys their memories of rediscovering the joy inherent in the piano as adult professional musicians after childhoods filled with restrictive and traumatic piano lessons that threatened to end their associations with the instrument. The piece involves Rachel playing the piano inside and out with joyful abandon, woven into a kaleidoscopic tapestry with Hildegard’s signature soundscape recordings.

After a successful world premiere during the 2017 ISCM World New Music Days in Vancouver, audience response to the work’s uniquely performative qualities inspired subsequent discussions around its adaptation across genres into an experimental short film project. Internationally celebrated filmmaker Nettie Wild joined the team. Wild captured performance footage at the Kay Meek Theatre in 2022 with cinematography by Jeremy Cox, location footage around the Lower Mainland in 2023 with cinematographer Andriy Lyskov, and wove it together with editor Michael Brockington in 2024. The soundtrack for Klavierklang was also recorded by Rachel, and featured on Paolo Pietropaolo’s In Concert on CBC Radio, in Hall of Fame episode 44, on composer Hildegard Westerkamp, in early April 2024. The film is now being readied for pitching the national and international film festival circuit, with other promotional plans in development.

Beyond long-term creative relationships like Hildegard, Rachel credits her continued creativity and adventurous musical curiosity to examples set by a host of peers. When asked for examples of such inspirations, Rachel shares, “Eve Egoyan and Gabriel Dharmoo are two artists who’ve really inspired me in my quest to take contemporary classical music out of its disciplinary constraints. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the profound inspiration by each of my piano teachers—Jane Coop, Robin Wood, Menahm Pressler, Rena Sharon, David Rea, and Vallerie Ross.”

When asked about what advice she would consider offering other artists contemplating an application to the Career Development program, Rachel considers, and offers, “If at first you don’t succeed, keep trying. This was my third attempt to find support for Klavierklang at Creative BC. Talk to your program contact; Creative BC has some of the most helpful staff of any funding agency. And, if you get the grant, put a priority on bookkeeping as you go. The financial reporting is intense, and yes, they really do check every single one of those invoices and proofs of payment!”

You can listen to Klavierklang, and learn more about the project, here. Klavierklang, the film, will be released in early fall 2024.

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Photo credits: SD Holman