The CSO’s Making Music Matters (M3) program plays a vital role to students in the Chattahoochee Valley community. M3 makes it possible for kids in the Columbus metropolitan area to be involved with instrumental music, both as listeners and as musicians, in a structured, creative, and supportive environment.

In collaboration with two local Girl’s Inc. centers and Open Door Community House, Inc., the CSO provides free after school group instrumental education to students in grades 3-5, many of whom attend Title I funded schools within the Muscogee County School District.

Making Music Matters is designed to instill in students the discipline, focus, and teamwork skills necessary to be successful not only in music, but in life. The goal of this program is not to create professional musicians, but to enrich students’ lives through the creative pursuit of musical ability.

Making Music Matters

Making Music Matters Teachers

Angie Bolívar

Colombian violist Angie Bolívar is a remarkable example of a rising performer involved in the versatility of chamber music and the creativity of twenty-first-century music
repertoire. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree from the Conservatory of Universidad Nacional de Colombia,

She completed her Artist Diploma and Master’s Degree in Music Performance under Dr. Katrin Meidell at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University. Angie has been part of orchestras such as Filarmónica Joven de Colombia, Orquesta Filarmónica Juvenil de Bogotá, Columbus Symphony Orchestra and LaGrange Symphony Orchestra. Angie has been under the baton of Andres Orozco-Estrada, Lior Shmabadal, among others.

As a chamber musician, she has worked and had masterclasses with artists such as Richard Young, from the Vermeer String Quartet, the Shanghai String Quartet, Saint Lawrence String Quartet, among others.

Currently, she is the Viola Instructor at the CSO's Making Music Matters program, the Preparatory Division of the Schwob School of Music, co-founding member of the Chamber Music Project of Columbus (GA), and the Koart Music Assistant at the First Baptist Church in Columbus, Georgia.

Elena Kolbrek

Elena Kolbrek, a Minnesota native, began violin lessons at six. She continued her studies at the University of Minnesota, earning a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and K-12 Music Education. She is currently a graduate student at the Schwob School of Music where she studies with Professor Sergiu Schwartz. She also serves as the violin instructor at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra's Making Music Matters program.


Elena teaches as a music and substitute teacher in Muscogee County School District and also resides as a violin teacher in the Schwob Preparatory Program. She performs with the Schwob Philharmonic, LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Notable teachers have included Roger Frisch (Minnesota Orchestra), Sally O'Reilly (University of Minnesota), and Boris Abramov (Columbus State University). She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Samuel Vargas International Music Foundation.