H. Leslie Adams' Sonata for Violin and Piano (in 3 movements) is being performed at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp Sunday, 8/0/2020 3 pm EST with Duo MemDi - Igor Kalnin violin and Rochelle Sennet, piano.
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.
