He was notably the bandmaster for the Band of the Dzerzhinsky Division of the NKVD. Agapkin led the combined military bands during the famous Red Square October Revolution Parade in Moscow on 7 November 1941. "Farewell of Slavianka" was one of the four marches that were played in that Parade, and in honor of his role there it has been played as the final march in Victory Day Parades all over Russia.