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Summer Music Festival to feature young cellists Wednesday
The multiple award-winning young cellists Braden McConnell and Ethan Murphy will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday as the Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues its series of free weekly concerts in Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church. Joined by renowned pianist Gulrukh Shakirova, this Indiana version of the “two cellos” will share music by Boccherini, Dvorák, Vitali, Vivaldi and Prokofiev.
“I’m particularly excited about this concert,” says festival founding artistic director Eric Edberg, who recently retired after 31 years as the cello professor at DePauw University. “My colleague Susan Moses, who heads the cello department and is the co-director of the Indiana University String Academy, is one of the most extraordinary cello teachers in the country.
“Braden, now doing grad work at McGill University, studied with her when he was in high school, and Ethan, only 14, is her current student,” Edberg added. “They are each spectacular players, with dazzling technique and engaging musicality, and their program includes some of the most-loved and enjoyable works for cello.”
The festival, dedicated to “bringing the community together with friends making music for friends,” is made possible by donations from local individuals, an endowment through the Putnam County Community Foundation, a grant from the Putnam County Convention and Visitors Bureau and support from local businesses, including Bridges Craft Pizza and Wine Bar, The Inn at DePauw, Greenburg Accounting and Hillside Farms.
The festival continues next week with Bridge & Wollack, the innovative and entertaining accordion and clarinet duo from Canada.
Braden McConnell is a graduate student at McGill University, studying cello with Brian Manker. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, Braden began playing the cello at the age of four. While studying with Susan Moses at the IU String Academy, Braden toured Brazil and Argentina with the Indiana University Violin Virtuosi and performed at Carnegie Hall with Gilles Apap. Braden earned First Prize at the David Popper International Cello Competition in Várpalota, Hungary. He has also won first prizes in the McGill University Concerto Competition, the Sigma Alpha Iota Competition and the Cleveland Cello Society Competition. A National Merit Scholar, Braden received a triple degree in cello, mathematics and economics from the University of Michigan, where he studied cello with Richard Aaron.
Fourteen-year-old Ethan Murphy started cello lessons at age five and studies under Professor Susan Moses in the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Pre-College String Academy. Ethan already has garnered a number of prizes, including Third Prize in Division II of the 2017 David Popper International Cello Competition in Hungary, First Prize in the 2019 Muncie Symphony Orchestra Junior Division Concerto Competition, First Prize in the 2018 New World Symphony Junior Division Competition, Second Prize in the 2016 Music Teachers National Association Indiana State Competition, Second Prize in the 2016 Bloomington Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition and First Prize in the Indiana University Kids Compose! competition. Ethan has performed as a concerto soloist with the New World Youth Orchestra and the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, and is scheduled to appear this fall with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he is a member of a piano quartet and the IU Pre-College Chamber Orchestra, and he sang as a member of the IU Children’s Choir for many years.
Pianist Gulrukh Shakirova is a top prizewinner of international piano competitions in the U.S., France, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. She has also received the Presidential State Scholarship for Culture and Art in Uzbekistan, and the Certificate of Achievement from Kansas City’s International Relations Council for fostering international understanding between Uzbekistan and the United States. Gulrukh’s own compositions received multiple awards in creative youth competitions in Uzbekistan.
Gulrukh has performed throughout Uzbekistan and the United States. In Uzbekistan she soloed with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. As a winner of the Mozart Concerto competition at the Jacobs School of Music, she performed with the Indiana University Symphony orchestra under the baton of David Effron. At the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Gulrukh played a solo recital prior to Menahem Pressler’s concert. Her performances have been featured at the Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, the Portland Piano International Summer Festival, the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Washington D.C. and the IU Starling Chamber Players Series, among others. She was an artist fellow of the Ravinia’s Steans Institute. As an active chamber musician, Gulrukh collaborates with many prominent artists, including Alex Kerr, Eric Kim, Yehonatan Berick, Grigory Kalinovsky and Howard Klug.
Gulrukh was invited to the Anchorage Chamber Music festival as faculty and guest artist. She was an associate instructor of piano at the IU Jacobs School Music. She has also worked as a collaborative pianist and coach at IU’s String Academy.
Born in Tashkent, Gulrukh earned her master’s degree in piano performance from the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan, as well as a Master of Music with Stanislav Ioudenitch at Park University’s International Center for Music. Gulrukh graduated with an Artist Diploma at the Jacobs School of Music, and, presently, is completing her doctorate in piano performance under the tutelage of Menahem Pressler.