Duo MemDi
Biography
Award-winning 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 objective of Duo MemDi is to perform music that embraces the diversity of world cultures. Particularly, they focus on commissioning and performing music of composers from underrepresented groups. They believe that classical music should be an integral part of the diversity, inclusivity and equality movement, and serve as an indispensable tool in promoting social justice. All of the Duo’s live performances are from memory – a rare feat in the world of chamber music. They feel that it allows for a connection to composers’ ideas in a more holistic, insightful way. These ideals inspired 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 H. Leslie Adams, J.S. Bach, Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Franck, Prokofiev, and James Lee III, and a large number of violin and piano showpieces. Their live performances were praised by the press for the “virtuoso-level of duo playing” (John Frayne, The News-Gazette). The duo commissioned and premiered numerous works by composers from diverse backgrounds and performed in Europe, Asia, and across the United States. Some of the recent highlights included the world premiere of “Breath of the East” for Violin, Piano, and String Orchestra by a celebrated Uzbek composer Dilorom Saidaminova with Sinfonia da Camera in Urbana, Illinois (with consequent performance with Rose Chamber Orchestra at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan), Mozart Double Concerto with Salisbury Symphony Orchestra in Maryland, Mendelssohn Double Concerto with Chamber Orchestra Turkistan in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and the world premiere of Violin Sonata No. 2 by a prominent African-American composer James Lee III at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
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 J.S. Bach and Black 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 the inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the College of Fine and Applied Arts at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she also serves as Associate Professor of Piano in the School of Music.
Her latest 3-Disc recording, “Bach to Black: Suites for Piano, Volume II” was released on Albany Records in October 2022, and includes the complete Partitas of J.S. Bach, and six additional suites by Black composers: George Walker, Florence Price, Joyce Solomon Moorman, Montague Ring, Harry Burleigh, and Ulysses Kay. She previously released Volume I of “Bach to Black,” also a 3-Disc recording, which includes the complete English Suites of J.S. Bach, and six additional suites by five Black composers: S. Coleridge-Taylor, N. Dett, H. Adams, F. Tillis, and J. Mumford; she earned a Gold Medal from Global Music Awards for her album. Her previous solo recording, 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. Her duo’s debut recording, “Duo MemDi: The Debut” was released in 2018 on Albany Records. In 2012, her recording of George Walker’s Piano Concerto was also 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. 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 Four Seasons Arts in Oakland California, Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory, 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 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 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, American Musicological Society Conference, 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 Roosevelt University in Chicago, 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. As an adjudicator, she was invited to judge competitions such as the National Society of Arts and Letters, Memphis International Piano Competition, Sejong Music Society Piano Competition, Zelpha Wells Piano Competition in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Walgreens Concerto Competition in Highland Park, Illinois. Dr. Rochelle Sennet is a Yamaha Artist.
Violinist Igor Kalnin has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and an orchestra leader. A native of Russia, he started his professional 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 Assistant Professor of Violin at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, as well as a leader for several orchestras on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Presently, he is Artist-Teacher of Violin/Assistant Professor at Illinois State University in Normal, 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 Orchestra and conducts Advanced Chamber Orchestra.
As a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, he performed in various venues around the world, including Musikverein in Vienna and Carnegie Hall in New York. The News-Gazette praised his playing for the “full rich tone, ... exquisite taste, and admirable skill.” The Uzbekistan News (www.nuz.uz) described his performance as “fresh, natural, and impeccably virtuosic.” His solo collaborations included Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Kostroma Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, Jackson Symphony (MI), Salisbury Symphony (MD), Chamber Orchestra Turkistan, Blue Lake Festival Orchestra and Rose Chamber Orchestra, among others. An experienced orchestral musician, he performs regularly as Concertmaster of Blue Lake Festival Orchestra and has previously served as Concertmaster of Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, and The Prairie Ensemble in Illinois, as well as Principal Second Violinist of Lansing Symphony in Michigan and Waterbury Symphony Orchestras in Connecticut.
Throughout his career, Dr. Kalnin 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. He is a co-founder of the educational project “The Art of Orchestral Playing” at Glinka State Conservatory in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. He also serves on the advisory board at the Community Center for the Arts in Urbana, Illinois. 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.
Since its inception, the Duo performed a broad variety of repertoire by memory, including sonatas of H. Leslie Adams, J.S. Bach, Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Franck, Prokofiev, and James Lee III, and a large number of violin and piano showpieces. Their live performances were praised by the press for the “virtuoso-level of duo playing” (John Frayne, The News-Gazette). The duo commissioned and premiered numerous works by composers from diverse backgrounds and performed in Europe, Asia, and across the United States. Some of the recent highlights included the world premiere of “Breath of the East” for Violin, Piano, and String Orchestra by a celebrated Uzbek composer Dilorom Saidaminova with Sinfonia da Camera in Urbana, Illinois (with consequent performance with Rose Chamber Orchestra at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan), Mozart Double Concerto with Salisbury Symphony Orchestra in Maryland, Mendelssohn Double Concerto with Chamber Orchestra Turkistan in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and the world premiere of Violin Sonata No. 2 by a prominent African-American composer James Lee III at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
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 J.S. Bach and Black 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 the inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the College of Fine and Applied Arts at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she also serves as Associate Professor of Piano in the School of Music.
Her latest 3-Disc recording, “Bach to Black: Suites for Piano, Volume II” was released on Albany Records in October 2022, and includes the complete Partitas of J.S. Bach, and six additional suites by Black composers: George Walker, Florence Price, Joyce Solomon Moorman, Montague Ring, Harry Burleigh, and Ulysses Kay. She previously released Volume I of “Bach to Black,” also a 3-Disc recording, which includes the complete English Suites of J.S. Bach, and six additional suites by five Black composers: S. Coleridge-Taylor, N. Dett, H. Adams, F. Tillis, and J. Mumford; she earned a Gold Medal from Global Music Awards for her album. Her previous solo recording, 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. Her duo’s debut recording, “Duo MemDi: The Debut” was released in 2018 on Albany Records. In 2012, her recording of George Walker’s Piano Concerto was also 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. 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 Four Seasons Arts in Oakland California, Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory, 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 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 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, American Musicological Society Conference, 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 Roosevelt University in Chicago, 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. As an adjudicator, she was invited to judge competitions such as the National Society of Arts and Letters, Memphis International Piano Competition, Sejong Music Society Piano Competition, Zelpha Wells Piano Competition in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Walgreens Concerto Competition in Highland Park, Illinois. Dr. Rochelle Sennet is a Yamaha Artist.
Violinist Igor Kalnin has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and an orchestra leader. A native of Russia, he started his professional 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 Assistant Professor of Violin at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, as well as a leader for several orchestras on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Presently, he is Artist-Teacher of Violin/Assistant Professor at Illinois State University in Normal, 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 Orchestra and conducts Advanced Chamber Orchestra.
As a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, he performed in various venues around the world, including Musikverein in Vienna and Carnegie Hall in New York. The News-Gazette praised his playing for the “full rich tone, ... exquisite taste, and admirable skill.” The Uzbekistan News (www.nuz.uz) described his performance as “fresh, natural, and impeccably virtuosic.” His solo collaborations included Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Kostroma Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, Jackson Symphony (MI), Salisbury Symphony (MD), Chamber Orchestra Turkistan, Blue Lake Festival Orchestra and Rose Chamber Orchestra, among others. An experienced orchestral musician, he performs regularly as Concertmaster of Blue Lake Festival Orchestra and has previously served as Concertmaster of Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, and The Prairie Ensemble in Illinois, as well as Principal Second Violinist of Lansing Symphony in Michigan and Waterbury Symphony Orchestras in Connecticut.
Throughout his career, Dr. Kalnin 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. He is a co-founder of the educational project “The Art of Orchestral Playing” at Glinka State Conservatory in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. He also serves on the advisory board at the Community Center for the Arts in Urbana, Illinois. 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.
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