25 Jan 2017 Conway Symphony Orchestra attracts international musicians

by Donna Lampkin Stephens
Mike Kemp photos

Music lovers in the 501 don’t have to travel far to hear some of the best musicians the world has to offer.

They simply need to buy a ticket to the Conway Symphony Orchestra, which counts among its nearly 80 participants musicians from at least 10 countries and four continents.

“Conway Symphony is one of the most internationally diverse institutions in Central Arkansas,” said Israel Getzov, music director for the CSO for 10 years and director of orchestras at the University of Central Arkansas. “Music has always been a melting pot for ideas and cultures, and the CSO’s musicians are the raw materials of that melting pot.

“It’s so rewarding when our musicians come together as one to create a unified artistic product, proving that what unites us is much greater than what divides us.”

Getzov said the CSO typically has 65 to 70 musicians for a performance, with about 20 of that number international musicians.

Among the international roster are Tatiana Kotcherguina, a violinist from Russia; Zoe Lin, a violinist from Taiwan; and Gianni Gambini, who plays the viola, from Mexico.

Tatiana Kotcherguina

Kotcherguina, who has been a part of the CSO for about 10 years, moved to Little Rock in 2004 to join the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Sturgis String Quartet. She taught seven years in Mexico but wanted her daughter to be educated in the United States.

However, she wanted to live in the same country as her daughter, so she spent two years in Hammond, La., and three in Jackson, Miss., prior to arriving in Arkansas.

Once in the state, she had an occasional gig with the CSO.

“It gradually became part of my yearly schedule for about the past five years,” she said.

Kotcherguina, hailing from several generations of Muscovites, started lessons on violin and piano at 7. She said she switched to the viola while in college but has continued to play her other instruments. She earned her undergraduate degree and a Master of Music with Honors at the Moscow State Conservatory. She has been an adjunct instructor of music at UCA since 2012.

Kotcherguina said she thought the international flavor of the CSO was “fabulous.”

“I am loving every instance of international diversity at UCA,” she said, remembering that her first interaction with a culture vastly different from her own came when she went to live in Mexico in her late 20s.

“That was like being thrown in water — cold water — without knowing how to swim,” she said. “All in all, Mexico is relatively uniform in terms of religion, food, art, ways of raising children and how people interact with each other.

“But here in the USA, the kaleidoscope of colors and flavors is not comparable to anything that I have experienced before. (At UCA) we have a wonderful mix of young people that come to learn, but there is so much they actually are offering to others by bringing their own customs to each other’s life.”

Lin and Gambini are part of that tapestry.

Zoe Lin

Lin first arrived at UCA as an exchange student, and she transferred from her former university in Taiwan and earned her degree in general music (vocal emphasis) with a minor in management earlier this year. She has been a part of the CSO for two years.

“I have been playing the violin since I was little,” she said. “After I got here, I needed some extra scholarships, so I auditioned, and being in the orchestra was part of my scholarship.”

Now a music teacher at the Conway Montessori School, Lin said she still spent more than two hours per week on CSO activities.

What does she enjoy about the experience?

“Working with the maestro,” she said. “(The international flavor) does bring an interesting dynamic. How different countries do their orchestras — the relationships between all the players and conductors.”

Gianni Gambini

Gambini said the CSO was his first experience in America. He has been involved with it since his arrival in August.

He arrived this fall to work on his master’s degree in interpretation at UCA. Prior to that, he played principal and co-principal in the Zacatecas chamber music orchestra and taught viola in the Música para la Vida Ac Foundation, which he said helped children in vulnerable situations.

He said he already loved the international flavor of the CSO.

“The multicultural general sensation of this orchestra is awesome,” Gambini said. “You can actually see how people feel different emotions in one piece, but at the same time, our excellent conductor knows how to connect all those feelings in one general idea and sensation, and we all become one.”

The diversity of the orchestra isn’t surprising given Getzov’s international experience. Having started the violin at 3 and studied viola, piano and percussion, he also serves as principal conductor of the Tianjin Philharmonic, the resident orchestra of the Tianjin Grand Theater in China. Besides conducting orchestras throughout the U.S., Getzov has also conducted the Shanghai Philharmonic, Tianjin Symphony and Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra.

Kotcherguina said over the years she has seen several “aha” moments “that made me stop for a minute and reason, expand my beliefs and values and hopefully made me a better person.”

“I am positive that the students have the same impact on each other,” she said. “I have the privilege of observing the process of young people being enriched by multiple music or (non-musical) experiences, learning to accept and adapt, widen and share, and at the end of the day to play an American symphony written by a Czech composer.”