Wednesday, February 25, 2004
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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 |
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Clayton State music major fills in on tour for Mexican quartet As the result of recent changes in immigration procedures, Bulgarian pianist Elena Cholakova, a music student at Clayton College & State University, was recently asked to perform three concerts in a regional professional performing arts series. Cholakova performed as a four-hand piano duo with her teacher, Associate Professor of Music Dr. Michiko Otaki, director of Keyboard Activities at the University. The four-hand piano duo was a last-minute replacement for concerts that were scheduled to be performed by the Jose White String Quartet, a young, prizewinning ensemble from Mexico, which was supposed to have started its American debut tour in early January 2004. However, since three of the Quartet's members were born in Cuba, changes in immigration procedures required that their visit be cleared with the State Department, and that clearance was not received until after two-thirds of the scheduled concert tour had already passed. Luckily for Cholakova, Otaki who has toured with numerous world-class ensembles including a performance at Spivey Hall with Hungary's Kodaly String Quartet this past fall is managed by the same organization that manages the Quartet. As a result, the duo was put on alert as days went by and it appeared that the Quartet would be unable to arrive in time to fulfill its obligations at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Ga., and at the First Presbyterian Church in Lake City, Fl. The program by the two pianists featured duos by Mozart, Debussy, Brahms and Dvorak, as well as solo performances by Cholakova in music by Beethoven and Chopin. A resident of Lilburn, Ga., Cholakova was a prizewinner in her native Bulgaria prior to coming to the U.S. She has been studying with Otaki since January, 2003, and has received both the University's Spivey Scholarship and Outstanding Performer Award at the Georgia Music Teachers' Association Spring audition. Otaki will be performing Chopin's E minor Concerto throughout the Southeast in February as featured soloist with the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra on its debut American tour.
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