Duo MemDi
Biography
Duo MemDi was founded by violinist Igor Kalnin and pianist Rochelle Sennet in the summer of 2010, when they served on the faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. The duo performs all repertoire by memory, as they believe that it allows them to connect with composers’ ideas in a more profound and insightful way. They understand it as internalization and re-composing of the structural, harmonic, and melodic elements of a particular work. Another focus of the duo is to increase diversity and inclusion in the world of classical music, and they have worked with living composers from various backgrounds. These two fundamental ideas created the name of the duo: Mem[ory] and Di[versity] - MemDi.
Since its inception, the Duo performed a broad variety of repertoire by memory, including sonatas of Bartok, Beethoven, Brahms, Franck, and Prokofiev, and a number of violin and piano showpieces. They performed in Europe, Asia, and across the United States, including an appearance in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. Their most recent international trip was to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where they performed Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto for Violin and Piano with Chamber Orchestra Turkistan, gave a recital with works of Ravel, Mumford, and Bartok, and conducted masterclasses at Uzbekistan State Conservatory. The duo commissioned a number of works to composers from Russia, United States, and Uzbekistan. Duo MemDi enjoys working and playing for younger generations, and they gave numerous performances and masterclasses in high and middle schools around the United States as representatives of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
Violinist Igor Kalnin has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and an orchestra leader. A native of Russia, he started his professional musical career as a faculty member at Glinka State Conservatory in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, and later joined Chamber Orchestra Kremlin in Moscow. After relocating to the United States in 2004, he served as Violin Instructor at Yale University and a leader for several orchestras on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Presently, he is Assistant Professor of Violin at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and Concertmaster of Sinfonia da Camera in Urbana, Illinois. During the summer season, he teaches at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, where he also serves as Concertmaster of Blue Lake Festival and Opera Orchestras and conducts Advanced Chamber Orchestra.
He is a prizewinner of a number of international and national violin and chamber music competitions. As a soloist, he performed with orchestras in Europe, Asia, and America, including Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Kostroma Symphony, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Jackson Symphony (MI), Salisbury Symphony (MD), Chamber Orchestra Turkistan, Blue Lake Festival Orchestra, Rose Chamber Orchestra, and Luther College Chamber Orchestra among others. As a recitalist and chamber musician, he appeared in prestigious venues around the world, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York and Rachmaninov Hall at Moscow Conservatory in Russia. His live solo and chamber music performances have been broadcasted on radio and TV stations in Russia and the United States, including numerous live performances on Blue Lake Public Radio.
Throughout his career, he has been passionate about teaching students of all ages. His college and pre-college students have won regional, state, and international competitions, and were accepted to prestigious music programs. As a clinician, he has given masterclasses at universities and conservatories throughout the United States and internationally. 2017-2018 season includes masterclasses in Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, Des Moines Symphony Academy in Des Moines, Iowa, McPhail Center of Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Dorian Orchestra Festival at Luther College. He is a co-founder of the educational project “The Art of Orchestral Playing” at Glinka State Conservatory in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. The original idea of the project was to introduce undergraduate and graduate Russian students to the requirements and standard repertoire for auditions in American orchestras, but the range and focus of topics expanded quickly and has included the place of classical music and musicians in the twenty-first century, outreach, and psychology of public performance. He has been giving lecture-discussions, masterclasses, and recitals for the project since 2012.
An experienced orchestral musician, he performs regularly as Concertmaster of Sinfonia da Camera in Urbana, Illinois and Blue Lake Festival and Opera Orchestras in Michigan during the summer season. Previously, he has served as Concertmaster of Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra and The Prairie Ensemble, as well as Principal Second Violinist of Lansing Symphony and Waterbury Symphony Orchestras. In addition, he performed as Guest Concertmaster for a number of professional orchestras in Russia and the United States.
Dr. Kalnin holds an undergraduate diploma with distinction from Balakirev Music College, as well as graduate and post-graduate diplomas with distinction from Glinka State Conservatory in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. In the United States, he has earned an Artist Diploma from Yale University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University.
Dr. Rochelle Sennet has established herself as a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar. Her recital programs showcase her versatility at the keyboard, with frequent performances of works by Bach, Beethoven, and African American composers such as H. Leslie Adams, Jeffrey Mumford, James Lee III, and Pulitzer-Prize winning composer George Walker. She received the Bachelor of Music degree from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Master of Music degree from University of Michigan, Artist Diploma from Texas Christian University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from University of Illinois. She was co-winner for the Krannert Center Debut Artist Competition, national finalist at the MTNA Steinway & Sons Young Artist piano competition, and a prize winner in numerous competitions such as the Kingsville International Piano competition, San Antonio Tuesday Musical Club Piano Competition, and the US Open Music Piano Concerto Competition. She is currently Associate Professor of Piano at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In 2012, her recording of George Walker’s Piano Concerto was released on the Albany Records label, and she was the first pianist record this difficult work since Natalie Hinderas in 1976. Robert Schulslaper of Fanfare Magazine described her performance of Walker’s concerto: “Rochelle Sennet plays the concerto…with supreme confidence.” She is also featured on this recording, performing on Walker’s triple concerto, Da Camera. George Walker himself praised her performance of his music. Her most recent solo CD, entitled “Alkebulan’s Son: The Solo Piano works of James Lee III,” was released in May 2014 on Albany Records, and received rave reviews in American Record Guide. She also recorded eighteenth-century composer Leopold Kozeluch’s second piano concerto and three harpsichord sonatas for four-hands with the Classical Chamber Players, which was released on the Mark Records label during the summer of 2013.
Recent performances include solo appearances at the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory and Balakirev Music College in Russia, where she gave the international debut of James Lee’s Piano Sonata No. 1, Eastman School of Music in Rochester, Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Hastings College in Nebraska. She performed Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with the Blue Lake Festival Orchestra in Michigan, which was broadcast live on WBLV-Blue Lake Public Radio. She also recently gave the world premiere of James Lee III’s Concerto for Piano and Winds with the Morgan State University Symphonic Band in Baltimore, Maryland. She has also made guest appearances as a soloist with ensembles such as University Philharmonia Orchestra in Michigan, the Sewanee Festival Orchestra in Tennessee, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra. She also performed Etude Fantasy by Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano at University of Illinois concert, in which the composer was in attendance and praised her performance. As an accomplished chamber music performer, she was a co-founder of Duo MemDi, a piano-violin duo established in 2010 with Russian international violin performer Igor Kalnin, on the principles of diversity and performing works by memory, a rarity in the field of chamber music. Recent Duo MemDi performances have included appearances at the Tashkent State Conservatory, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Luther College, and numerous outreach events throughout the United States.
As a committed scholar and educator, she has presented frequent guest lectures, is an advocate for outreach performances, and is in demand as an adjudicator at piano competitions. She has presented lecture recitals at the College Music Society National Conference, the College Music Society Great Lakes Regional Conference in Dayton, Ohio, and the Illinois State Music Teachers Conference. Other appearances include solo recitals as well as being invited as masterclass clinician at the Tashkent State Conservatory in Uzbekistan, University of New Mexico at Las Cruces, Flint Institute of Music in Michigan, and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. She has also served on the piano faculty at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp since 2006, and is currently the headmaster for the Illinois Summer Youth Music Advanced Piano Camp. As an adjudicator, she was invited to judge competitions such as the Sejong Music Society Piano Competition, Zelpha Wells Piano Competition in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Walgreens Concerto Competition in Highland Park, Illinois.
Since its inception, the Duo performed a broad variety of repertoire by memory, including sonatas of Bartok, Beethoven, Brahms, Franck, and Prokofiev, and a number of violin and piano showpieces. They performed in Europe, Asia, and across the United States, including an appearance in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. Their most recent international trip was to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where they performed Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto for Violin and Piano with Chamber Orchestra Turkistan, gave a recital with works of Ravel, Mumford, and Bartok, and conducted masterclasses at Uzbekistan State Conservatory. The duo commissioned a number of works to composers from Russia, United States, and Uzbekistan. Duo MemDi enjoys working and playing for younger generations, and they gave numerous performances and masterclasses in high and middle schools around the United States as representatives of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
Violinist Igor Kalnin has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and an orchestra leader. A native of Russia, he started his professional musical career as a faculty member at Glinka State Conservatory in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, and later joined Chamber Orchestra Kremlin in Moscow. After relocating to the United States in 2004, he served as Violin Instructor at Yale University and a leader for several orchestras on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Presently, he is Assistant Professor of Violin at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and Concertmaster of Sinfonia da Camera in Urbana, Illinois. During the summer season, he teaches at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, where he also serves as Concertmaster of Blue Lake Festival and Opera Orchestras and conducts Advanced Chamber Orchestra.
He is a prizewinner of a number of international and national violin and chamber music competitions. As a soloist, he performed with orchestras in Europe, Asia, and America, including Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Kostroma Symphony, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Jackson Symphony (MI), Salisbury Symphony (MD), Chamber Orchestra Turkistan, Blue Lake Festival Orchestra, Rose Chamber Orchestra, and Luther College Chamber Orchestra among others. As a recitalist and chamber musician, he appeared in prestigious venues around the world, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York and Rachmaninov Hall at Moscow Conservatory in Russia. His live solo and chamber music performances have been broadcasted on radio and TV stations in Russia and the United States, including numerous live performances on Blue Lake Public Radio.
Throughout his career, he has been passionate about teaching students of all ages. His college and pre-college students have won regional, state, and international competitions, and were accepted to prestigious music programs. As a clinician, he has given masterclasses at universities and conservatories throughout the United States and internationally. 2017-2018 season includes masterclasses in Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, Des Moines Symphony Academy in Des Moines, Iowa, McPhail Center of Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Dorian Orchestra Festival at Luther College. He is a co-founder of the educational project “The Art of Orchestral Playing” at Glinka State Conservatory in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. The original idea of the project was to introduce undergraduate and graduate Russian students to the requirements and standard repertoire for auditions in American orchestras, but the range and focus of topics expanded quickly and has included the place of classical music and musicians in the twenty-first century, outreach, and psychology of public performance. He has been giving lecture-discussions, masterclasses, and recitals for the project since 2012.
An experienced orchestral musician, he performs regularly as Concertmaster of Sinfonia da Camera in Urbana, Illinois and Blue Lake Festival and Opera Orchestras in Michigan during the summer season. Previously, he has served as Concertmaster of Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra and The Prairie Ensemble, as well as Principal Second Violinist of Lansing Symphony and Waterbury Symphony Orchestras. In addition, he performed as Guest Concertmaster for a number of professional orchestras in Russia and the United States.
Dr. Kalnin holds an undergraduate diploma with distinction from Balakirev Music College, as well as graduate and post-graduate diplomas with distinction from Glinka State Conservatory in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. In the United States, he has earned an Artist Diploma from Yale University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University.
Dr. Rochelle Sennet has established herself as a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar. Her recital programs showcase her versatility at the keyboard, with frequent performances of works by Bach, Beethoven, and African American composers such as H. Leslie Adams, Jeffrey Mumford, James Lee III, and Pulitzer-Prize winning composer George Walker. She received the Bachelor of Music degree from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Master of Music degree from University of Michigan, Artist Diploma from Texas Christian University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from University of Illinois. She was co-winner for the Krannert Center Debut Artist Competition, national finalist at the MTNA Steinway & Sons Young Artist piano competition, and a prize winner in numerous competitions such as the Kingsville International Piano competition, San Antonio Tuesday Musical Club Piano Competition, and the US Open Music Piano Concerto Competition. She is currently Associate Professor of Piano at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In 2012, her recording of George Walker’s Piano Concerto was released on the Albany Records label, and she was the first pianist record this difficult work since Natalie Hinderas in 1976. Robert Schulslaper of Fanfare Magazine described her performance of Walker’s concerto: “Rochelle Sennet plays the concerto…with supreme confidence.” She is also featured on this recording, performing on Walker’s triple concerto, Da Camera. George Walker himself praised her performance of his music. Her most recent solo CD, entitled “Alkebulan’s Son: The Solo Piano works of James Lee III,” was released in May 2014 on Albany Records, and received rave reviews in American Record Guide. She also recorded eighteenth-century composer Leopold Kozeluch’s second piano concerto and three harpsichord sonatas for four-hands with the Classical Chamber Players, which was released on the Mark Records label during the summer of 2013.
Recent performances include solo appearances at the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory and Balakirev Music College in Russia, where she gave the international debut of James Lee’s Piano Sonata No. 1, Eastman School of Music in Rochester, Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Hastings College in Nebraska. She performed Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with the Blue Lake Festival Orchestra in Michigan, which was broadcast live on WBLV-Blue Lake Public Radio. She also recently gave the world premiere of James Lee III’s Concerto for Piano and Winds with the Morgan State University Symphonic Band in Baltimore, Maryland. She has also made guest appearances as a soloist with ensembles such as University Philharmonia Orchestra in Michigan, the Sewanee Festival Orchestra in Tennessee, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra. She also performed Etude Fantasy by Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano at University of Illinois concert, in which the composer was in attendance and praised her performance. As an accomplished chamber music performer, she was a co-founder of Duo MemDi, a piano-violin duo established in 2010 with Russian international violin performer Igor Kalnin, on the principles of diversity and performing works by memory, a rarity in the field of chamber music. Recent Duo MemDi performances have included appearances at the Tashkent State Conservatory, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Luther College, and numerous outreach events throughout the United States.
As a committed scholar and educator, she has presented frequent guest lectures, is an advocate for outreach performances, and is in demand as an adjudicator at piano competitions. She has presented lecture recitals at the College Music Society National Conference, the College Music Society Great Lakes Regional Conference in Dayton, Ohio, and the Illinois State Music Teachers Conference. Other appearances include solo recitals as well as being invited as masterclass clinician at the Tashkent State Conservatory in Uzbekistan, University of New Mexico at Las Cruces, Flint Institute of Music in Michigan, and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. She has also served on the piano faculty at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp since 2006, and is currently the headmaster for the Illinois Summer Youth Music Advanced Piano Camp. As an adjudicator, she was invited to judge competitions such as the Sejong Music Society Piano Competition, Zelpha Wells Piano Competition in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Walgreens Concerto Competition in Highland Park, Illinois.
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