Festival to feature debuts of DePauw music faculty members

The Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 7 in the air-conditioned comfort of Gobin Church with its second concert of the season, “New Friends, Part 1,” featuring the GSMF debuts of DePauw music faculty members soprano Mary Martin (who will be accompanied by pianist Allan Armstrong, a professor at the IU Jacobs School of Music) and pianist Marya Lyapkova.

There’s no admission charge, although donations are welcome. The GSMF is supported by an endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation, and donations from individuals and businesses, including the Inn at DePauw.

“Our motto is ‘friends making music for friends,’” said Eric Edberg, the DePauw emeritus cello professor and founding artistic director of the weekly concert series, which began in 2005. “I’ve had the privilege of making music this past year with both Mary Martin and Maria Lyapkova, and there are both fabulous performers. I’m so excited for our community of music lovers to experience their artistry for themselves and welcome them into our circle of GSMF friends.”

Edberg will join Lyapkova, who will perform a solo piece by Ukrainian composer Valentyn Silvestrov, in works by Schumann and Debussy. Martin and Armstrong will perform songs and opera arias by Puccini, Verdi, Bizet and Richard Strauss, as well as a selection from “My Fair Lady.”

The festival will continue next week on June 14 with “New Friends, Part 2” featuring DePauw music professor Teagan Farran, a multi-genre electric and acoustic violinist.

A native of Moscow, Russia, Maria Lyapkova has appeared at international music festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and School (United States), Spotlight on Young Musicians (France), and the Music of Norway (Norway/Russia). An accomplished collaborative pianist, she has performed with principals of leading orchestras such as the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Bolshoi Theatre.

Lyapkova has previously held collaborative pianist positions at a number of institutions, including Stephen F. Austin State University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Young Actors Musical Theatre of Moscow, and is now director of collaborative piano at DePauw.

Lyapkova received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and Historical Performance from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

Known for her “brilliantly clear, highly refined soprano voice,” soprano Martin has performed as a soloist in concert work with the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, Midland Symphony Orchestra and Livingston Symphony Orchestra among others. Some favorite concert roles include Hanne in Haydn’s “The Seasons” and the soprano solos in “Carmina Burana,” “The Messiah,” Mozart’s “Requiem” and Faure’s “Requiem.”

An active performer on the opera stage, she has performed with Central City Opera Company, South Bend Lyric Opera, Arbor Opera Theater, the Janiec Opera Company, New York Opera Exchange, Opera MODO and Motor City Lyric Opera. Martin earned her BM and MM degrees from the University of Michigan, where she had the honor of singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” for President Obama in the Michigan football stadium.

Pianist and vocal coach Armstrong is assistant professor of music in voice at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he specializes in art song literature and opera coaching. In 2021 Armstrong received the Indiana University Trustees Award. He performed two recitals and was an invited panelist for the 2022 International Congress of Voice Teachers in Vienna.

Armstrong has been a principal production pianist and coach at Eugene Opera, Opera Colorado, St. Petersburg Opera, Opera on the Avalon, Sugar Creek Opera and Opera Tampa. He has taught on the faculty of the Sherrill Milnes Savannah Voice Festival, Tel Aviv Summer Opera and the International Vocal Arts Institute.