NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

11/04/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES- Flutist Dennette McDermott and pianist Nikita Fitenko will present "An Evening of Slavic Sonatas" Friday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. The recital is sponsored by the Mrs. H.D. Dear Sr. and Alice Estelle Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts at Northwestern State University. Admission is free and open to the public.

The program will include works for both flute and piano. Works to be performed are "Romance in F moll" by Antonin Dvorak, "Prelude in g# moll" and "Prelude in c moll" by Sergi Rachmaninoff, "Introduction et Allegro pour Flute solo" by Dinu Lipatti, "May" and "February" from "The Seasons" by Ilyich Tchaikovsky and "Basso Ostinato" by Rodoin Schedrin."

The recital will also include "Echos in the Wind" by Phyllis Avidan Iouke, Frederick Chopin's "Nocturne in c# moll" and "Suite Paysanne Hongroise" by Bela Bartok.

McDermott, an associate professor of flute at NSU, has performed throughout the United States and in Europe. She made her European debut in 1992 in the Czech Republic with the Czech premiere of Jindrich Feld's "Introduzione, Toccata e Fuga." In 1995, as a recipient of the Magale Endowed Professorship, she participated in a mastercourse and taught at the Janacek Academie of Music in Brno, Czech Republic.

McDermott is a three-time winner of the National Flute Association Conventions' Performers Competition. In 1998, she was awarded the Mildred Hart Bailey Award at NSU for her research and performances of Czech music. She released a compact disc recording which included the premiere recording of "Introduzione, Toccata e Fuga," which was funded by the Council for University Research Award and the Donald F. Derby Endowed Professorship.

Fitenko is an assistant professor of piano at NSU. A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory with a Citation for Excellence in piano performance given to only five other graduates in the last 50 years. After being awarded a "City of Weimar" stipend from East Germany, he made his formal debut in 1992 with the St. Petersburg Capella Symphony and has performed throughout Europe. Fitenko continued his studies at the University of North Texas where he received the Anton Rubinstein Memorial Award.

In 1995, he was awarded top prizes in the Beethoven International Competition of the Houston Symphony. In 1996 he won the Beethoven Prize at the Byelorussian International Piano Competition in Minsk. Since 1996, Fitenko has worked with the Altarus Records Co. to record a series of contemporary Russian piano music.

Fitenko has served as organizer of the Louisiana Piano Series International at NSU. The series has brought world renowned pianists to Northwestern for recitals and masterclasses with area students.

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