Karolina Pek, by the artistic name “La Paprika”, is a Slovak Canadian High School Music Director at Shanghai American School, Shanghai China.  

She has studied music in Vancouver, Montreal and Prague where her instruments were piano and French horn. 

In addition to this, she has studied conducting in Montreal and Vienna.

Becoming interested in Flamenco dance has led her to be active in Flamenco dance and percussion in the Shanghai scene.   She became seriously interested in the castanets when one of her teachers visiting from Spain, lent her his grandmother’s castanets to practice on for the duration of the course.  Since then, she is hooked on castanets and loves being a student of Teresa Laiz. She is studying the advanced level at Teresa Laiz Online International Castanet School.  She has performed on castanets in Shanghai and Mexico City.  She is also a member of Madrid Castanet Choir, directed by Teresa Laiz.