Meet ViMaDeAn Duo | Violin / Percussion Duo

We had the good fortune of connecting with ViMaDeAn Duo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi ViMaDeAn Duo, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
We believe that being a full-time artist is quite risky itself. Our profession is built on taking risks both in an every day life and on stage. Denis and I believe that it’s better to take a risk and possibly regret about it, rather than to pass on an opportunity and regret about not taking a chance. Our lives are perfect examples of that. Back in 2017 we took a big risk and left our lives, careers and full-time jobs with leading orchestras in Moscow, Russia and decided to move to Georgia (USA) where we’ve never been before. It wasn’t an easy decision but we ended up showing up at the Atlanta airport with 3 suitcases starting our new lives here without knowing what to expect. Looking back now, we are truly grateful for everything that happened to us during the past 5 years and to all the people who have been supporting our Duo during all these time.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What is the most important factor behind your success / the success of your brand?

There are a lot of factors which go into that. We believe that success comes naturally as a result of working on something that truly inspires you accompanied by hard work. At our Duo recitals we only perform the music we truly like and we know that our audiences can feel it. There is a special connection formed at our concerts between us and our listeners. We dedicate a lot of our time to working with composers who write new pieces for our Duo since the original repertoire for the unusual ensemble like ours is not very large. Our CD which will be released later this year is dedicated to an important aspect of the environmental issues. This is an extremely universal subject which resonates deeply with every member of our society nowadays. We feel an urge to create new pieces dedicated to this topic and we can’t wait to share the new music with our audiences. We truly believe in what we do and are passionate about our projects. As a Duo we’ve been through a lot of challenges since we first started to perform together back in 2010 at the Yale School of Music, but our persistence and dedication helped us to overcome all of these obstacles and to continue doing what we love.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Why did you pursue an artistic or creative career?

Denis:

I come from a family of musicians so I guess I didn’t have a choice 🙂 My father was a percussionist and my mother is an educator and a pianist. Being the only child, I grew up playing and listening to music. Music education for children in Russia is very strong and one can start as early as 5 yo by going to a special music school but you have to audition and show good enough results to be able to get in. Yes, the are auditions for 5 year olds! So I got in to the Gnessins School of Music and started with piano, then recorder and only then percussion.

Frankly, up until the age of 12 I wasn’t very passionate about playing concert percussion. My interest was always in piano and guitar, singing along and improvising. But then something clicked. Just like it happened yesterday, I remember standing in a living room playing a piece by Shostakovich on a xylophone – I was getting very into that!

My passion for playing concert percussion has been growing ever since and I started enjoying lessons with my father. I did have one more set back when my dad passed away. I was 16 at that time and was ready to quit percussion as I thought that it would be too tough for me to overcome loosing him and playing percussion would remind me of him constantly. Luckily, I was able to move on and continued to play. Instead of quitting, with a help of my family I decided to fulfill one of my father’s dreams about me – to get my education at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA – one of the most prestigious music conservatories in the world.

3 years later at the age of 19, I arrived in Philadelphia international airport ready to start my first semester at Curtis. Fast forward 4 years, My Bachelor’s of Music diploma was signed and dated on May 6th, which is my dad’s birthday. I couldn’t wish for a better sign from heaven.

Where are you from and how did your background and upbringing impact who you are today

Anastasia :

I was born in a small Ukrainian village, got my early music education in Russia and have been living in the US for quite a long time, not to mention all the traveling around the world I do as an artist. This international experience gave me an ability to live my life freely, to look at things from multiple angles and not to be limited by just one single mentality or a certain approach. I come from a country with deep historical roots and traditions. I was raised and taught how to value these traditions and I believe this helps me to connect with people around me and to appreciate their backgrounds and values. I consider myself lucky to carry such a mix of different life experiences and traditions from different continents which I happily express with my music making.

Instagram: vimadean_duo

Image Credits
Emil Matveev Paolo Andrea Gualdi Edward McCranie