Classical Music News

Violin Pedagogue Jessica Lee Appointed Chair of CIM Violin Department

April 15, 2024

2 MIN READ

Lee steps down from The Cleveland Orchestra to take on leadership role at Cleveland Institute of Music

Violinist Jessica Lee will leave her position as the assistant concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra, a position she has held since 2016, to step into a full-time role at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Lee has taught at CIM since 2016, when she was named a visiting member of the violin and chamber music faculty, and will now become the chair of its violin department.

In her new role at CIM, Lee will extend a long legacy of acclaimed violin pedagogues, including David and Linda Cerone, Donald Weilerstein, David Updegraff, and Paul Kantor. She also will lead one of the nation’s most illustrious violin departments, a group that includes such luminaries as Ilya Kaler, Jaime Laredo, Malcolm Lowe, Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler, Stephen Rose, and Philip Setzer.

“After years of teaching while playing in the great Cleveland Orchestra, I am so excited to devote myself full-time to the students I love and admire,” Lee said. “Alongside my wonderful colleagues, I will work tirelessly to provide the greatest music education and support for our passionate young musicians for many years to come.”

Prior to joining the CIM faculty, she taught at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and served for five years as an adjunct professor of violin at Vassar College. She has previously served as a member of the Johannes String Quartet and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A grand prize winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, she has appeared with major orchestras and summer festivals across the U.S. and worldwide.

“Jessica Lee has had an outsized impact on CIM since her first days as a visiting faculty member,” Scott Harrison, CIM’s Executive Vice President & Provost, said. “Her newly expanded role is an enormous win for the violin department, for CIM and its students, and for the future of classical music. We look forward to the fall, when she’ll be a daily presence at the school.”

Lee joins CIM's addition new appointments — pianists Gabriela Montero, Ilya Itin, and Dr. Daria Rabotkina, saxophonist Steven Banks, and cellist Wei Yu.