Michiko Otaki grew up in Harzu, a small coastal fishing town in Japan. At the tender age of four she loved to watch her older brother practice the piano. It wasn't long before she asked for lessons, too. Brother Fumihiko was a talented musician, and his traditional Japanese parents had high hopes that he would become a successful concert pianist. They planned his education carefully and were delighted when he graduated with high honors from Berlin's Hochschule. For their daughter, they set their sights in a somewhat different direction and hoped she would marry and have a family or become a teacher. Things didn't work out quite as planned: Fumihiko did become a concert pianist and is now on the music faculty at the State University in Yokohama, Japan. It was Michiko who broke with tradition and followed a demanding career path, which will eventually lead her to Houghton's St. Ignatius Loyola Church for a concert at 8:00 p.m. on March 18. Now an internationally acclaimed pianist, she is on tour with the Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra from the Czech Republic. She will be performing the Schumann Piano Concerto in a minor, the centerpiece of the March 18 program. Works by Beethoven and the nineteenth century composer Vorisek, complete the program.
On graduating from high school, Michiko moved to the U.S. to study piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for her bachelor's degree, then to the Manhattan School of Music where she received a master's degree and began her concert touring career. Later she earned a doctorate of music at the University of Miami. She says she was never comfortable playing Western music in Japan, where the emphasis is on imitating the teacher. It took her a while before she became accustomed to the freedom of expression in the American schools, before she felt able to play according to her own musical instincts and to develop her own personal style.
On a concert tour of Poland in 1987, she met members of the Warsaw Wind Quintet, and returned a year later to play with them and other leading chamber ensembles. She is probably the only Japanese pianist to play regularly with Eastern and Central European orchestras. Her touring credits include stints with the Brno Chamber Orchestra, the Slovak Sinfonietta, the Swiss Wind Quartet and others. Taking time from her position as director of keyboard studies at Clayton State in Atlanta, Georgia, Michiko is now a veteran of numerous concert tours. She has performed at major venues throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Washington's National Gallery, Carnegie Hall, and Atlanta's Spivey Hall. A Washington Post critic remarked that her performance there was " . . . a tribute to chamber playing of the highest order." Other critics praise her virtuosic technique, her sensitivity, and her fluent interpretation of demanding works.
For tickets to the March 18 concert, call the Performing Arts Ticket Center at 487-3200 (Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.), stop by the Memorial Union Box Office (Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.), the SDC Central Ticket Office or purchase tickets online at www.tickets.mtu.edu.
For further information call the University Cultural Enrichment Department (487-2844).
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03/02/00