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(Photo) Graffe String Quartet includes, from left, Stepan Graffe, violin; Lukas Bednarik, violin; Michal Hreno, cello; and Lukas Cybulski, viola. The Graffe String Quartet and acclaimed concert pianist Michiko Otaki will perform at Piedmont College March 25 as part of their U.S. tour. The free concert will be held at 3 p.m. in the Center for Worship and Music at the college campus in Demorest. Founded in 1997 at the Brno Conservatory in the Czech Republic, the Graffe Quartet has played throughout Europe and has won several international competitions in Germany, England and the Czech Republic. Critics have praised the quartet for its youthful freshness, temperament, and expression in performances of works of all stylistic periods, from classical to contemporary music, with an emphasis on Czech composers. The quartet includes Stepan Graffe, Lukas Bednarik, Lukas Cybulski, and Michal Hreno. For the Piedmont concert, the Graffe Quartet will perform works by Adam Jan Mica, Jusef Suk, and Franz Joseph Haydn. The quartet and Otaki will perform Robert Schumann's Quintet for Piano and Strings in E-flat Major.
Otaki has toured extensively across the U.S. and Europe, including performances at the Washington National Gallery, New York's Carnegie Hall, and Atlanta's Spivey Hall. After completing their U.S. tour, Otaki and the Graffe Quartet will record the Schumann Quintet and the Second Piano Quintet of Martinu this summer in Brno for the Czech Radio and CD release. --30—
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Graffe Quartet and Otaki to perform at Piedmont March 25
Otaki was born in Japan and studied in the U.S., receiving advanced performance degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music and the University of Miami. She is currently a professor and director of keyboard studies at Clayton State University in Atlanta.