Dmitri Atapine, DMA

Professor of Music and Cello
Dmitri Atapine

Summary

Photo credit: Harrison Truong

Described as "splendid, elegant cellist, with a gorgeous sound" (MundoClasico), DMITRI ATAPINE has been hailed as a performer with “brilliant technical chops” (Gramophone), whose playing is “highly impressive throughout” (The Strad). As an avid soloist and recitalist, he has appeared on some of the world’s foremost stages, including Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Zankel and Weill halls at Carnegie Hall, the National Auditorium of Spain, to cite but a few. His performances have been broadcast on radio and TV in the USA, Spain, Mexico, and South Korea.

Highly in demand as a chamber musician, Mr. Atapine regularly performs with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is an alum of The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). His multiple festival appearances have included Music@Menlo (California), Chamber Music Northwest (Oregon), La Musica Festival (Florida), Nevada Chamber Music Festival, Cactus Pear Music Festival (Texas), Banff (Canada), Great Mountains Music Festival (South Korea), Malaga Clasica (Spain), Miguel Bernal Jimenez Festival (Mexico), the French Academy in Rome (Italy), Aldeburgh (England), Aix-en-Provence (France), Pacific Music Festival (Japan), and many others. He collaborated with such eminent artists as the Emerson String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Wu Han, Ani and Ida Kavafian, David Finckel, David Shifrin, Cho-Liang Lin, Paul Neubauer, Bruno Giuranna and Peter Wiley, among many others.

As a soloist Mr. Atapine has performed as a soloist with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Asturias Symphony Orchestra, the Reno Chamber Orchestra, the Leon Symphony Orchestra, the Gijon Chamber Orchestra, the 'Arche' Chamber Orchestra, the Yale Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as with Michigan State University Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras.

Mr. Atapine's many prizes and awards include the First Prize at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition and the Second Prize at the Vittorio Gui Chamber Music Competition. Other accolades include Top Prize and Yamaha Special Prize at the Florian Ocampo Spanish National Cello Competition, First and Second Prizes at the 2008 New England International Chamber Competition, the Grand Prize at the 2007 Plowman Competition, the 2005 Presser Foundation Award, the First Prize and Asturias Symphony Special Prize at the 2003 Llanes International String Competition (Spain), the Yale Woolsey Hall Competition, and the First Prize at the Sahagun International Music Competition at age 13.

Mr. Atapine's keen interest in contemporary music produced fruitful collaborations with several distinguished composers, among them Ezra Laderman, Jennifer Higdon, David Serkin Ludwig, Libby Larsen, Patrick Castillo, Martin Bresnick. In collaboration with pianist Hyeyeon Park Mr. Atapine released a critically acclaimed world-premiere recording of Lowell Liebermann’s complete works for cello and piano on BlueGriffin label, leading to their presentation in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. Other recordings can be found on Naxos, Albany, MSR, Urtext Digital, and Music@Menlo LIVE labels.

Born into a family of musicians, Mr. Atapine began his musical education with his parents at the age of five and soon thereafter entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory School of Music. After his family moved to Spain, Mr. Atapine graduated with honors from the Asturias Conservatory under Alexander Fedortchenko. He came to the US and after receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees with high honors from Michigan State University under the tutelage of Suren Bagratuni, Mr. Atapine continued his studies with the legendary cellist Aldo Parisot at Yale University School of Music, where he completed the Master of Musical Arts degree, obtained the Artist Diploma, and since 2010 holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

Currently Mr. Atapine is the cello professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. In addition, he serves as the Artistic Director of Ribadesella International Music Festival (Spain), he is the founder and Artistic Co-Director of Apex Concerts, and in 2022 he was appointed as Artistic Co-Director of Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City. He also serves as Co-Director of Young Performers Program at Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute.

Recordings

Education

  • DMA, Yale University
  • A.D., Yale University
  • MMA, Yale University
  • M.M., Michigan State University
  • B.M., Michigan State University