Special GSMF flute and piano concert set Thursday

Meghan Bennett and Maria Lyapkova

Flutist Meghan Bennett and DePauw School of Music faculty pianist Maria Lyapkova will present a free recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14 in Gobin Church.

The Greencastle Summer Music Festival is sponsoring this special springtime event. GSMF programs are funded by individual donations, businesses including the Inn at DePauw and the Doc’s Inn, and an endowment at the Putnam County Foundation.

Works to be performed — all by living composers — include Guillaume Connesson’s “Le Rire de Saraï,” Zhanna Kolodub’s “Poem. Nocturne, “ Tania León’s “Alma” and Yuko Uebayashi’s “Sonata for Flute and Piano.”

A native of Mount Pleasant, S.C., Meghan Bennett began as music assistant professor of woodwind studies and director of woodwind Studies at New York University in Fall 2023. She was awarded top prizes in the South Carolina Flute Society Young Artist Competition; Morning, Afternoon and Eau Claire Music Club Competition; Atlanta Flute Club Young Artist Competition; Flute Society of Kentucky Young Artist Competition; and Greater Philadelphia Flute Society Young Artist Competition.

Bennett has also competed in the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition and the Fischoff Competition. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts from The University of Texas at Austin, Master of Music from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, and Bachelor of Music from the University of South Carolina. Her primary teachers include Marianne Gedigian, Marina Piccinini and Jennifer Parker-Harley.

A versatile pianist, keyboardist, educator and sought-after collaborative pianist, Maria Lyapkova has graced international stages in the United States, Europe and Russia. Her wide-ranging repertoire encompasses five centuries of music, from baroque to contemporary, with a special interest in historical performance. Maria has collaborated with leading musicians across the globe performing with principals from major orchestras such as the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and Bolshoi Theatre and vocalists from various Opera houses such as Minnesota and Indianapolis Opera.

Before her current appointment as director of collaborative piano at DePauw University, she served as a full-time collaborative pianist at Stephen F. Austin State University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Ever exploring, she has worked with eminent composers Gunther Schulle, Joseph Schwantner and Lori Laitman, performing a world premier of Laitman’s work Into Eternity with soprano Lyndsay Moy in 2023.

The GSMF’s summer season will resume on Wednesday, May 29.