Violin teacher Yuko Honda, 61, shared Suzuki legacy

Yuko Honda taught thousands of young violinists during her lifelong career as a music teacher, once assembling 800 fledgling players onstage for the opening of Benaroya Hall in 1998.

Ms. Honda died Monday at her home in Bellevue after a four-year battle with cancer, continuing to teach her students until a month before her death. She was 61.

Born on May 1, 1945, in Kanagawa, Japan, Ms. Honda began violin studies at age 4 with Shinichi Suzuki, the famous founder of the Suzuki Method.

In 1964, she came to the University of Washington to demonstrate the Suzuki principles for music-education students, and to continue her violin studies with Vilem Sokol, conductor of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra.

"Yuko was a wonderful person who became almost like a daughter to us," he said. "We found her a home with a family, and I put her in the first violin section of the Youth Symphony. She quickly memorized the music and loved playing in the orchestra."

Ms. Honda went on to develop the Suzuki Program at Eastman School of Music, and later taught at Drake University, the University of Southern California, Graceland College and the University of Memphis. She also played in several orchestras, including the Memphis Symphony. She returned to the Northwest in 1995 to open a violin studio in Bellevue.

"Her legacy," said her friend B.T. Eberhart, whose daughter studied with her for 11 years, "was as a direct student of Dr. Suzuki, passing on his teaching in many master classes, as well as to her students. She was a great violinist, very determined, and a very sweet teacher."

Ms. Honda's survivors include her parents, Dr. Masaaki and Junko Honda, and two sisters, Mayako Honda and Asami (Kiichiro) Mitani, all of Japan; two sons, Yorinobu (Aya) and Michinobu (Mine) Takahashi, and two granddaughters, Miu and Aisa, all of Japan; and many students, parents, and friends from around the world.

A memorial will be held at noon Wednesday at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E., in Seattle, for a musical celebration of Ms. Honda's life and work. Past and present students will perform together in the Suzuki works they learned under Ms. Honda's tutelage.

The family suggests memorials be sent to the Yuko Honda Memorial Fund, 15819 S.E. 43rd Place, Bellevue, WA 98006.

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com