Jan. 9, 2006 – The Water Island Classical Music Festival will present two concerts on Feb. 9 and 11 at Providence Point on Water Island. This will be the second annual concert featuring Julian Gargiulo, artistic director. This year, Gargiulo will perform selections from his Carnegie Hall concert, and he will introduce his wife Masha Yefimova to the Virgin Islands audience. The concerts will feature works for the piano and will feature a piano-flute duet with master flautist Carol Copeland. The first concert takes place at 7:30 p.m., on Friday, Feb. 9, with works by Gershwin, Scriabin, Liszt, Ravel, Brahms and "Two Tangos for Piano and Flute" by Astor Piazzolla.
The second concert will be held at 7:30 p.m., on Sunday, Feb. 11, featuring works by Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy and a sonata for flute and piano by Francis Poulenc. Concert tickets are limited to only 75 seats and cost $25 for each concert or $40 for both concerts. They are on sale from the Water Island ferry captain, Pirate's Ridge Deli and Alex Randall at WSTA. The Water Island ferry will schedule a special run for residents of St. Thomas who want to take a short trip to enjoy classical music.
Gargiulo performs regularly throughout the world in halls such as Carnegie Hall, Moscow Conservatory Hall in Russia, the Verona Philharmonic Hall in Italy and the Seymour Theatre in Australia. He has produced four CDs and the latest is 'Sinfully Classical' with works of Scarlatti, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms and Debussy.
Born and educated in Italy, he studied at the Verona State Conservatory in Rome and the Moscow State Conservatory. He earned his master's degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University and a doctor of musical arts from the University of Maryland. He is the founder of the Sacred Heart Concert Series and the Water Island Music Festival.
Russian-born pianist Masha Yefimova has performed solo and chamber music recitals in Italy, Spain, England, Slovakia, Croatia, Russia and the United States. She made her orchestral debut with the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava and is the recipient of many awards in national and international piano competitions, including the Artists International, the Five Towns Music and Art International Piano Competition, the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition, the Hummel International Piano Competition and the Kuznetsk Competition in Russia. Yefimova graduated with honors from Moscow State Conservatory in 1996 and earned her master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York, studying under Dr. Arkady Aronov.
Carol Copeland, master flautist, is an artist-in-residence at Arcadia University and performs with the Corista da Camera Woodwind Quintet, the BuxMont Chamber Orchestra, and with her own trio. She has a bachelor's degree in music education from West Chester University and a master's in library science from Arcadia University.
