About Us
Canal String Quartet
6
Kristin Sande
Violin
Kristin Sande began studying the violin at the age of 5, inspired by her kindergarten best friend, Eleanor. The Duluth music education community was integral to Kristin’s upbringing, and she is proud to work alongside many of her childhood teachers as colleagues. Today Kristin is a member of the violin sections of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, and leads the North Shore Philharmonic Orchestra as concertmaster. During the day, she is the music librarian for the DSSO and maintains a small studio of violin and viola students. Kristin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance from the University of Minnesota Duluth, where she studied with Jean “Rudy” Perrault.
Lian Ojakangas
Violin
Lian Ojakangas is serving as assistant concertmaster for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. He studied with violinists Yoonshin Song and David Halen and has a special love for quartet music. When he’s not performing, you can find him training for the American Birkebeiner ski race or enjoying the great outdoors around Duluth.
David Arnott
Viola
A member of the DSSO viola section since 2002, Manager of Orchestra Operations since 2022, and Executive Director since 2024, Dr. J. David Arnott holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, and the University of Southern Mississippi. He has held academic posts in Kansas and Minnesota where he served terms as department chair, and orchestral posts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Mississippi, Texas, and Minnesota. Dr. Arnott has extensive experience performing, conducting both youth and professional ensembles, and as an arts administrator. Opera is his first love.
Dedicated to music education, Dr. Arnott is a frequent clinician, adjudicator, and studio instructor in viola and violin. He directed the Upper Midwest String Camp from 2007-2022, has been a site host and section coach for the Minnesota Allstate Orchestra for many years, and he is a past-president of the Minnesota chapter of the American Viola Society. For many years Arnott wrote both the Viola and the School Orchestra News columns for StringNotes, the award-winning journal of the Minnesota chapter of The American String Teachers Association.
Dr. Arnott played in Summer music festivals in Colorado, Utah, France and Germany. In 2008 Arnott performed at the International Viola Society Conference in Arizona.
Dr. Arnott plays a 1971 Sergio Peresson viola and a violin of unknown origin likely dating from no later than 1737.
Byron Klimek
Cello
Byron Klimek is a cellist with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, Lyric Opera of the North Orchestra, Borealis Chamber Artists, and is the cellist for the Canal String Quartet. In addition to his performing, he is a passionate educator in the Twin Ports community. He is the Director of Orchestras at Duluth East High School, serves on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin Superior and the College of St. Scholastica, is the Director of the Quartet Project program, maintains a private cello studio, and has previously been a director for the Duluth Superior Symphony Youth Orchestra program. In his free time, he enjoys long distance running, spending time with friends, and playing chamber music.