Harp-playing sisters Miya and Kaori Otake are featured in the return of the Coffee Concerts series to Surrey Arts Centre’s Studio Theatre.
On the morning of Friday, Dec. 10, the sold-out “Music for 17 Pedals and 287 Strings” performance also features South Surrey’s Bergmann Piano Duo, hosts of the mid-morning series of classical music concerts.
The event promises “beautiful, inspiring, uplifting music that will feature much-loved pieces by composers such as Bach, Gounod, Saint-Saens and Franck,” says an event advisory posted to surrey.ca. “Arrive early for the social hour at 10 a.m. and enjoy a hot beverage and delicious treats.”
Around the world, Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann have been performing together as a duo since 1989.
As for the Otake sisters, Kaori is a former harp instructor at the Capilano University, while Miya is teaching harp at Langley Community Music School.
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On Nov. 28, a Langley-area concert by the Otake sisters was dedicated to their mother, who passed away earlier this year.
“Our mother was an incredible musician, teacher and impresario who played an integral role in both our personal and musical lives,” Miya said prior to the Sunday-afternoon concert, held at Langley Community Music School (LCMS). “Kaori and I will perform a beautiful concert in her honour, and with her in our hearts.”
Since learning to play the harp at young ages in Aichi, Japan, the sisters have given solo recitals and concerto performances around the world, and have appeared as a duo on many prestigious stages including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Rio International Harp Festival in Brazil, and at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, Miya is the resident harpist of the Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra and freelances. She is a sought-after educator and adjudicator, as well as a teacher of harp at LCMS.
Kaori is a graduate of Curtis, Juilliard, and Indiana University, who has performed as a soloist across the globe with appearances from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to the Japan/Nippon Philharmonic Orchestra. She currently resides in Japan.
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with files from Langley Advance-Times staff