Jessica Lee will step down from her position as assistant concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra to become chair of the violin department at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) has announced that Jessica Lee has been named chair of its violin department. She will step down from her position at the Cleveland Orchestra, where she has served as assistant concertmaster since 2016. Before that, she was a member of the Johannes String Quartet and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She was grand prize winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and has appeared with orchestras and summer festivals across the U.S. and worldwide. Lee has taught at CIM since 2016, when she was named a visiting member of the violin and chamber music faculty. She previously taught at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and served for five years as adjunct professor of violin at Vassar College. A native of Virginia, Lee began playing the violin at age three. Following studies with Weigang Li of the Shanghai Quartet, she entered the studios of Robert Mann and Ida Kavafian at the Curtis Institute of Music at age 14. She later completed a master’s degree with Mann at the Juilliard School.
