Duo Envol features two members intensely passionate about chamber music: Melanie Chirignan on flute/alto flute/piccolo, and Laura Melnicoff on cello. The inspirations of nature and travel are core to their musical lives, and so “Envol” became their moniker—French for “flight” and “soaring.”

Since meeting in Albany, New York, in 2020, they have performed over 60 concerts together so far! Believing in music for everyone, their performances have included house concerts, libraries, retirement communities, and tasting rooms and arboretums. They have performed at colleges like Connecticut State Capital Community College and Union College, on concert series such as  Rotterdam Summer Music Series, New Britain Museum Sunday Series, Beat the Snow at Schenectadly County Public Library, and the Live and Learn Lecture Series at the Albany and Schenectady Jewish Community Centers.  

Their instrumentation is unique, and have therefore commissioned composers to write for them. They believe in championing new works and have premiered music by Nina Siniakova, Abby Harris, and Josh Hummel. They also commissioned an animation for their performances of Cumulus Reverie, by Philip Speath. 

Duo Envol is collaborative in nature, and has partnered with other organizations such as SVAN, Improv Spaces. Troy Savings Bank, Groupmuse, and the Musician’s Unions. Additionally, they collaborate in trios with pianist Max Caplan, improvisational pianist Melanie Hardage, guitarist Thomas, and improvisational harpist Alex Chang.

As recipients of funding from the Arts Center of the Capital Region and the Saratoga Arts Council, they’ve been able to produce passion projects while strengthening their surrounding communities with music. Color and Sound is a concert of partially improvised compositions for flute, cello, and piano that took place at the Saratoga Senior Center (thanks to Saratoga Arts). The Cumulus Reverie Interactive Workshop leads a guided exploration of music and visual media (thanks to Arts Center of the Capital Region and Saratoga Arts). This workshop can be found on the BOCES website as well as the NY library database of entertaining and educational programs. Hudson Sounds is a concert of nature-inspired music, art, and dance (thanks to Saratoga Arts). Music for One invites audience members to participate in an intimate one-minute, one on one concert by choosing their instrument, picking a color they like, and  hearing music (thanks to Saratoga Arts).

Duo Envol has been in residence at the Catwalk Institute and Looking Glass Arts. In summer of 2026, the Catwalk Institute Residency aided them in establishing their 501(c)3. At the Looking Glass Arts Neighborhood Residency, Duo Envol recorded a meditative modal piece with improvised sections for flute, cello, piano, muted piano, and tongue drum called “Snowmelt,” available on BandCamp. 

Melanie received dual bachelor’s degrees in Music Performance and Music Education from SUNY Fredonia, and a master’s degree in flute performance. Laura Melnicoff received her bachelor’s degree in cello performance from the Mannes College of Music, and her master’s degree in cello performance from Tel Aviv University. Believers in always continuing to learn and grow, they’ve had coachings with Keith Underwood and Yehuda Hanani. Additionally, Melanie maintains a private teaching studio and has a Pitbull Terrier puppy, and Laura is raising three beautiful children and a pitbull.

Laura Melnicoff

Laura Melnicoff is a cellist based in Albany, NY. Passionate about chamber music, Laura is a Musician-Owner with Groupmuse, producing and performing concerts in homes and venues around New York State. She frequently performs locally with Duo Envol, her ensemble with flutist Melanie Chirignan. Her avid interest in Jewish music has been supported by the New York State Council for the Arts, with grants in 2024 and 2025 for Folk Arts projects on klezmer music. Laura leads music workshops and performances in Jewish community settings playing chassidic songs she learned at women’s yeshivas in Jerusalem and Brooklyn. Recordings of her performances have aired on WQXR, WMHT-PBS, NPR, and Israel’s Kol HaMusika. Laura was also a recipient of the Arts Council of the Capital Region Artist Grant in 2023 for her solo cello debut album, “Bars of Light,” which can be found on all streaming platforms. She has been a resident artist at the Catwalk Institute and the Looking Glass Arts Neighborhood Recording Residency.

Her performances on major stages have included the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Heichal HaTarbut Tel Aviv, and the Summer Stage of the Central Park of Kyiv, Ukraine. Laura has performed frequently in the orchestra of the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene, including the originating production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish at Stage 42 in New York City. Holding music performance degrees from the Mannes College of Music and Tel Aviv University, Laura’s primary studies have been with Yehuda Hanani, Timothy Eddy, and Hillel Zori.

Laura is pleased to perform on a custom commissioned cello from 2024, built by Saratoga-based luthiers Thomas Dunn and Nicholas Frirsz. 

A Manhattan native, Laura’s love of cello started at age 6, when she began taking lessons. She was part of the pilot class at Special Music School and attended LaGuardia Arts High School. She holds a Bachelor’s of Music from The Mannes School of Music, where she was a student of Timothy Eddy. Her Master’s degree took her to Israel, where she studied with Hillel Zori, was a member of Tel Aviv University’s resident string quartet, and interned as a cellist in the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Music festivals include the Close Encounters With Music Series, the High Peaks Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Keshet Eilon, Kyiv Summer Music Evenings, the Madrid Cello Forum, Your Body Is Your Strad, SababaFest, KlezKanada, and Yiddish New York.

More at www.lauramelnicoff.com

Flute player Melanie Chirignan is a chamber musician at her core. She loves to collaborate with other musicians and media to be expressive. She believes in Groupmuse house concerts and performing in non-traditional spaces to build community, speak about music, tell stories, and make music accessible to all. 

Melanie believes strongly in innovation, commissioning and premiering new music, and is very grateful to have won grants from the Schenectady Community Arts Council, the Saratoga Community Arts Council, and the New York Women Composer's Seed Money Grant to bring these projects to life. She has worked with a multitude of composers on projects that speak to her including: Alex Ford's "Berus in the Woods" in collaboration with Electric City Puppets; Ralph Raymond Hays’ musicalization of the story "Keller's Heart" by John Gray; she has premiered music by Sean Pallatroni, Kary Contreras Galindo, Joshua Hummel, and made world premiere recordings of music for Masatora Goya's album, Dream Of Sailing, available on ITunes and Amazon; Nolan Stolz's Princess Ka'iulani, released on SCI/ Parma Recordings and "Latinos Ni de Aqui Ni de Alla'' on the Latin Heartbeat Orchestra album, El Regreso. She recently recorded "Radiations" an EP of partially improvised compositions with pianist Melinda Faylor, available on Band Camp. Currently, she is recording an album of flute and guitar music by women composers with guitarist Scott Hill. As a member of the wind quintet Quintocracy, she premiered music for: the silent film Nosferatu by Sina Kiai, the silent film the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Brett Wery, the micro-opera the Pedesterra Cycle by Brett Wery, Daniel Carr’s “Bright, Flashing Stars,” and presented a program of music by women composers at SUNY PAC. Melanie has collaborated extensively with Stringwynde, cellist Laura Melnicoff in their Duo Envol, improvisational pianist Melanie Hardage as Atmospirit Duo, jazz bass legend Nat Reeves, Philadelphia Fife and Drum Corps, guitarist Oren Fader, pianist Max Caplan, and Alturas Duo. She recorded Philip Spaeth’s Cumulus Reverie and added animation by Tiny Planet LLC to create a video of a child looking up at the clouds and imagining different shapes. This is the basis of a workshop discussing how music and visuals makes us visualize different images, culminating in participants painting what they imagined when they listen to Cumulus Reverie. Thanks to the Looking Glass Arts Neighborhood Residency, which allowed Duo Envol to record “Snowmelt,” available on BandCamp. 

Melanie loves to work as an orchestral player as well. She has performed with: the New York Chamber Players Orchestra, Albany Pro Musica, Octavo Chamber Orchestra, Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra, Garden State Philharmonic, the Chelsea Symphony, Gateway Classical Music Society, S.E.M. Ensemble, and Hartt Independent Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, Melanie has been featured with the Chelsea Symphony, performing "Poem" by Charles Griffes. 

She has performed in a variety of inspiring venues, including Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, Opera America, the DiMenna Center, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Tenri Cultural Center, for Composer's Voice Concert Series, the Connecticut Guitar Society, the Windsor Historical Society, the New Britain Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and the Wadsworth Museum of Art.  

Melanie Chirignan is a teaching artist at heart. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in music performance and music education, graduating magna cum laude from SUNY Fredonia and a Master of Music in flute performance from the Hartt School. She has taught general music, chorus and orchestra to students ranging from elementary school to conservatory and college. She has taught workshops on the "Origins of South American Folk Music'' with the Alturas Duo. She was an adjunct faculty member at the College of Saint Rose and maintains a busy private teaching studio in addition to her busy performance schedule. As a member of Quintocracy she was an artist in residence at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and offers workshops for schools through BOCES.  She has co-taught with pianist Melanie Hardage Improvisation workshops at Big Picture Learning Schools this Fall thanks to a Schenectady Arts and Education grant.

More at https://www.melaniechirignan.org/