Japanese pianist to perform in Bodrum


Award winning Japanese pianist Hiroko Nagai Çalık, who moved to Turkey's Bodrum after her marriage with a Turkish captain, will perform at the coastal city on Dec. 28.Born in Japan, the 34-year-old started to play piano at the age of three. She graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, a conservatoire in Tokyo and completed her master's degree at Poland's Fryderyk Chopin University in 2008.The same year she received a special award at the International Ibla Grand Prize Music Competition in Italy and later performed in various concerts in Germany, Poland and Japan.She has also performed at the Audio Visual Technologies Center in Wroclaw, Poland, where famous directors like Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski had also performed.Çalık is married to Turkish captain Özgür Çalık, whom she met in Japan in 2016. The couple married and settled in the Bitez district in Turkey's coastal town of Bodrum.She has continued to rehearse at home for her performance which is supported by Bodrum Karya Culture, Art and Promotion Association.Talking to the media, Çalık said she is happy to live in Turkey and this would be her first concert in Bodrum since she moved there six months ago."We decided to move to Bodrum because my husband works here. So, I will carry on my works here and I am very excited to perform in Bodrum," she said."I left everything behind in Tokyo and came to Bodrum for my love," she added.