Summer classical music festival concludes tonight

The 2008 Greencastle Summer Classical Music Festival concludes at 7:30 p.m. this evening at Gobin United Memorial Church with a concert by Duo Amabile, the outstanding husband/wife violin and piano duo, joined by DePauw oboe professor Leonid Sirotkin.

The program includes works by Beethoven, Stavinsky, Jacob, and Paganini.

Admission is free, with donations accepted. Yourk Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Greencastle, Inc. is the festival's main corporate underwriter, with additional support from Arts at DePauw, the DePauw School of Music, and Fine Print Books, as well as many individual donors.

Since its 2003 debut, Duo Amabile has presented violin and piano recitals to enthusiastic audiences throughout the United States. Married since 2004, Matvey and Katya Lapin bring to their collaborations virtuosity, enthusiasm, and striking passion. Their repertoire ranges from eighteenth to twenty-first century music, and includes works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Bartok, among many others. Equally at ease with the standard repertoire, the Duo's offerings range from Rachmaninov to Part, and include contemporary works especially written for them. Popular with young audiences, they present Lecture-Performances and Workshops in conjunction with their concerts. Currently, Duo Amabile performs extensively throughout the country.

An active soloist and chamber collaborator, Matvey Lapin has performed across the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan and Korea at such venues as Concertgebouw Hall, Gewandhaus, Milan Conservatory and the Royal Palace in Stockholm. Matvey hails from St. Petersburg, Russia. He is currently pursuing his Doctoral degree at the IU Jacobs School of Music and is a student with Ik-Hwan Bae. Mr. Lapin graduated from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory (Russia), where he completed his Undergraduate, Graduate, and Post-Graduate Courses in violin performance. He has been a recipient or several awards, including the 3rd prize at the Locatelli Concours international competition (Amsterdam, 1995), the special grant from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation (2000), and the Gartow Scholarship in Germany, 1997. Matvey had also been awarded a grant to participate at the Holland Music Sessions master class series (Netherlands, 1995). During 2002-03 he was a member of the Grammy Award winner, world renowned St. Petersburg String Quartet (formerly Quartet-in-residence at Oberlin College-Conservatory).

Internationally recognized solo pianist and chamber musician, Katya Kramer-Lapin is currently working on her Artist Diploma program at IU Jacobs School of Music, studying under Professor Shigeo Neriki. Katya received her Master's degree and Performer's Diploma at IU School of Music as well. She received her Bachelor's degrees at Oberlin College Conservatory and Hochschule fur Musik in Cologne (Germany). Katya's concerts include appearances at the 25th Anniversary of the UNESCO, held at its Headquarters, (Paris, France), sponsored by the Pope Paul John Second, chamber recital, representing young opera artists of Bolshoy Theater, dedicated to the visit of Renata Scotta (Moscow, Russia), solo concerts at the World Bank (Washington, DC), concert tours to Taiwan and Europe, as well as frequent collaboration with the soloists of the New York Philharmonic and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras. Katya is a former scholar of the "Russian Arts Help" Charity Foundation, sponsored by Maestro Rostropovitch. Katya received a several awards from international competitions which include Rudolf Serkin Piano competition, Matinee Piano Competition in Indianapolis and the "Forum of Young Pianists" (Athens, Greece).

Leonid Sirotkin is a native of St. Petersburg, Russia where he received his BM and MM from St. Petersburg State Conservatory.

For almost a decade, Leonid has been a principal English hornist with the Kirov Opera and Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev and has toured internationally with the Orchestra performing at Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, Kennedy Center, Covent Garden, La Scala, and Concertgebouw among other venues.

He has performed as a soloist with Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Bogota Opera Orchestra of Theatro Colon, and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra. His chamber music festival appearances include Kuhmo International Chamber Music Festival, Finland, Kostamuksha Music Festival, Russia, Lucca Music Festival, Lucca, Italy. He was featured as a lecturer on the IDRS International conference in 2006. Leonid is a regular substitute player with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and has toured with CSO to Japan and Europe.

He has recorded more than 35 CDs with Kirov Orchestra and 5 Cds with Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra.In 2000, Leonid published the book, "Orchestral Excerpts for oboe and English horn from operas and ballets by Tchaikovsky."

He is currently a DMA candidate at Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Mr.Sirotkin's major teachers include Dr. Valery Sobolev and Dr. Mark Ostoich.