Violinist and violist Yura Lee. Photo: Caroline Bittencourt
Yura Lee is a bundle of energy.
Even as a child she was constantly on the go - which is one of the reasons her mother got her a violin.
She figured correctly. If the young Yura was occupied with playing an instrument she'd be less likely to climb some nearby tree or wall, or anything else that looked terrifyingly high.
But while Lee took to the violin, being a fiddler was not enough.
These days, the Korean-born, Los Angeles based musician is a master of both the violin and the viola.
RNZ Concert's Bryan Crump with musician Yura Lee. Photo: Ben Baker
Lee is one of the overseas artists taking part in the 2025 At the World's Edge Festival in the Queenstown Lakes District next month.
On the way there, she stopped in on Wellington for a performance with Orchestra Wellington - playing the viola in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat (K364) while New Zealander Benjamin Baker took on the violin solo.
Wellingtonians who missed that concert on Saturday 20 September have another chance to see the duo at St Andrew's on the Terrace this Wednesday.
Lee also called in to RNZ Concert's studios for a chat with Three to Seven host Bryan Crump.
She explained she came to the viola because the violin alone didn't enable her to dive as deeply into music as she would have liked.
Ideally she would have played the piano, but her hands were too small.
The size of her hands also knocked out her second choice, the cello, but when she discovered the viola she was hooked.
She quickly learned all of J S Bach's cello suites on the viola, which has the same open strings as a cello, only an octave higher.
Have passport, can travel. Photo: Supplied / Yura Lee
With a viola, a musician has more access to the internal harmonies of classical music, which to Lee are just as important as the melody line often given to the violin.
Still, such is Lee's energy she's never been able to settle on just one instrument - she's brought both her violin and her viola with her to New Zealand.
Alas, one thing she wasn't able to bring (because of this country's stringent biosecurity rules) was her dog, Nugget.
Nugget is Lee's constant companion. He even has its own passport - a Danish one.
That's because when Lee isn't in Los Angeles she bases herself in Copenhagen, another sign of the musician's energy.
Why settle for one city when you can live in two?
Luckily, when Lee does have to leave Nugget at home, some of her music students are more than happy to give the dog all the love it needs.
Although you can be sure Lee will be making a few video calls home before the end of her tour to the bottom of the world.
Musician Yura Lee and Nugget Photo: Supplied / Yura Lee
