Summer Music Festival continues at Gobin Church

The Greencastle Summer Music Festival, dedicated to building community with “friends making music for friends” continues its series of free concerts Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Gobin Church.

This week’s performers are Duo Cantabile, cellist Simona Barbu and her husband, pianist Nariaki Sugiura, celebrating their new album “Introspections.” They will also perform earlier in the day for children attending the Summer Enrichment Program, also hosted by Gobin.

There’s no admission charge. The festival’s Wednesday programs are funded by individual donors, a grant from the Putnam County Convention and Visitors Bureau and an endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation. The Inn at DePauw hosts the festival’s out-of-town guest artists. 

Audience members are encouraged to join the performers in going out for drinks or dinner after the concert at the Inn’s Fluttering Duck, which serves until 10 p.m.

Barbu and Sugiura have been performing together since 2012, and have an extensive list of international performances. They last performed for the GSMF in 2022. Their program this week includes Jonas Fisher’s “Four Seasons for Cello and Piano,” Alejandro Drago’s Suite for Cello and Piano “A Universal History of Nobleness,” arrangements of tangos by Astor Piazzolla and other works. 

“We’re really excited to be bringing many performers in from out of town this summer,” Eric Edberg, DePauw emeritus professor and founding artistic/executive director of the festival, said. “We’ve developed so many musical friends over the years. Simona and Nariaki, a former DePauw music professor and staff pianist, are amazing artists. I am really looking forward to experiencing their music making.”

About the Performers: 

In 2012, Romanian cellist Simona Barbu and Japanese pianist Nariaki Sugiura, distinguished international artists and pedagogues presently teaching at University of North Dakota in the United States, established the musical ensemble known as Duo Cantabile. 

The duo traveled extensively, giving performances, clinics, lectures and master classes at prestigious institutions around the world, including Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim (Germany), Zoltan Kodaly EZI Kecskemet (Hungary), Academy of Music Gheorghe Dima (Romania), Xinghai Conservatory of Music (China), National Taipei University of Arts (Taiwan), University of Antioquia (Colombia), University of Manitoba (Canada) and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. 

The duo has also performed as part of music festivals, performance series, national and international conferences, including the North Dakota Museum of Art Concert Series, Masterworks Music Festival in Ohio, Dream Big Collaborative Piano Conference in Canada, Pingtung University International Conference of Music Performance and Pedagogy in Taiwan and College Music Society National Conferences.

In 2023, the duo founded the Medora Music Academy, assuming roles as the artistic directors, enriching the musical landscape and educational opportunities within the upper Midwest. They are regularly involved in community outreach activities, and they have created and engaged in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural events together with their students, both nationally and abroad. 

The most recent recipient of the Joyce and Aqueil Ahmad Endowment for the Promotion of Peace and Nonviolence, the duo is scheduled to engage into extensive performing activities at underserved communities. The Duo’s extensive performing, teaching and entrepreneurial activities resulted in receiving visiting professorships from institutions such as East China Normal University, honorable awards given to artists who have made significant contributions to their institutions.  

An international cellist, Simona Barbu began her musical studies at age seven and gained public attention as a member of the leading string quartet of the Conservatory of Timisoara in her native Romania, where she made her solo debut in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with the conservatory’s symphonic orchestra. Ever since, she has traveled to Asia, South American, Europe and the United States as a soloist, chamber musician, clinician and orchestra musician. She has collaborated with world-class musicians such as Emilio Colón, Edward Auer, Emile Naoumoff, Lydia Artymiw and Milton Masciadri and she has appeared as soloist with University of Antioquia Symphony Orchestra, Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra, Eroica Ensemble, Starkville Symphony Orchestra and others.

A dedicated teacher, Barbu has served as the string faculty at Mississippi State University for four years, where she taught strings and conducted the symphonic orchestra. In 2011, she was appointed Burgum Endowed Chair the University of North Dakota, where she currently teaches cello, string bass, chamber music and conducts the UND Honor String Orchestra. During summers, she performs and teaches at various music festivals.

International concert artist Nariaki Sugiura has performed solo recitals and concerto engagements in the U.S., Europe, South America and Asia at  prestigious concert halls such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Shenzhen Symphony Hall (China), Kioi Hall (Japan), Ferenc Liszt Music Academy Recital Hall (Hungary), Daejeon Arts and Cultural Center Hall (South Korea) and Manoel Theater (Malta).

Sugiura has appeared as soloist with the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra, Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra, University of Antioquia Symphony Orchestra, Peking University Affiliated High School Concert Band, Purdue University Philharmonic Orchestra and many others. His arrangements for chamber ensembles and piano ensembles have been frequently performed.

A devoted teacher, Sugiura has become of the leading piano pedagogues of his generation. He has given piano master classes at Academy of Music Gheorghe Dima (Romania), Leo Weiner Music Academy (Hungary), Shenyang Conservatory of Music (China), National Kaohsiung Normal University (Taiwan), Ewha Womans University and Sunhwa Arts High School (South Korea), Universitas Pelita Harapan (Indonesia), St. Paul’s College (Hong Kong), and many other institutions around the world.

Previously, he has taught at DePauw, Indiana University, and Lamont Summer Pre-College Music Academy in Denver and Guangdon University of Foreign Study in China. While he was at Indiana, he worked for a legendary cellist Janos Starker.

The festival continues next week with I-Jen Fang and Percussion Group DePauw. More information is available on the festival’s website (greencastlemusic.org) and at facebook.com/greencastlesummermusic.