With every Duo Serenata performance, audiences experience a truly international, musical adventure. Here are two classically trained, passionate musicians who left different parts of the former Soviet Union to express themselves on their own terms and share their music with everyone lucky enough to hear them play. Mikhail “Misha” Litvin moved to Milwaukee from Minsk, the capital city of Belarus in 2000. He is a virtuoso on the domra and the mandolin. If you do not know either of those instruments yet, it is time to let Misha entertain you. While his home is in Milwaukee and since moving to Wisconsin, Misha has performed as a soloist with orchestras in cities across America, Europe and Israel. His most popular repertoire selections include, but are not limited to Renaissance and Classical standards, Russian folk and pop, klezmer and traditional American mandolin orchestra music. Misha’s outstanding musicianship can be heard on recordings with bayan virtuoso Stas Venglevski and the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra. With Irina Yanovskaya on guitar, Misha was the mandolin-playing leader of the New Vintage Frets for their superb collection of historic American music – “the Wisconsin•Vega Project.” Irina Yanovskaya moved to Milwaukee from the Ukraine in 1996. She came to America with the degrees in Guitar Pedagogy and Guitar Performance. Combining active performance and teaching careers, Irina appeared as a soloist and chamber musician locally and abroad. A passionate educator Irina is a certified Suzuki instructor and currently teaches guitar at Suzuki & Pre-College Guitar Program at UWM. She is a co-founder of the Milwaukee Classical Guitar Society and director of the society's orchestra. Her education, devotion to study, intelligence, interpretive abilities and experience as a soloist have made Irina an exceptional guitar accompanist. Her work with Misha in Duo Serenata presents a surprising, emotional and often incredible musical synergy. Irina and Misha met only after he arrived in Milwaukee. Their common language, musical tastes and mutual respect led to and keep advancing the evolution of their musical collaboration. Meeting the artists who have become Duo Serenata is a lucky encounter no one forgets.
