Laredo, Lee eagerly await Bach Concerto performance with CIM Orchestra

So much about the CIM Orchestra’s next performance is significant, even those headlining it barely know where to begin.  

For one, it’s the group’s first concert of the year at Severance Music Center. For another, the program is uncommonly appealing. 

To faculty violinists Jaime Laredo and Jessica Lee, however, what’s really special is the chance it affords them to share the stage as colleagues, before Laredo leaves CIM, and to play with and for their students.  

“There’s a level of excitement that I haven’t seen before,” said associate conductor Jake Taniguchi (GD ’24), calling the Oct. 8 concert “an opportunity that doesn’t happen too often.” 

Laredo, for his part, said he’s played Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor – part of a program that includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and a movement from Florence Price’s String Quartet No. 1 – more than almost any other piece. It’s one he knows and loves deeply, especially its “sublime” slow movement. 

Never, though, has Laredo played it quite like he will at Severance, with a close friend, amidst a group largely composed of students.    

“It’s a great joy to play with Jessica,” Laredo said. “I’ve always loved her playing and I’ve always admired her...[and] it’s the most wonderful feeling, to be on stage with your own students. There’s nothing like it.” 

The feeling is mutual, to say the least. Lee, a fan of Laredo’s since her days at the Curtis Institute of Music, where Laredo taught before CIM, said “Even being in the same room with [Laredo] makes everybody play better,” herself included.  

Add Bach’s timeless score into the mix and “It’s a very special feeling,” Lee said, noting that at times in rehearsal, “I feel like I’m melting. I just hope I can do this part justice, because it’s just so beautiful.”  

Even that, though, doesn’t fully capture the magic of this particular moment. As the recently installed new head of CIM’s violin department, Lee said she also regards this chance to perform with students as an opportunity to impart some important, intangible messages.

“When we play together, there’s something that happens,” she said. “You could have said 10,000 things [in a lesson] to encapsulate what just happened...when there is that collaboration.” 

Most will have to wait for the concert to fully appreciate Lee’s sentiment. Most will not attend or take part in CIM Orchestra rehearsals. But the duo’s conversation about Lee’s first few weeks as department head affords a glimpse of what lies ahead. 

Lee, a member of the faculty since 2019, said she’s enjoying having more time with students and playing a more active role in their overall development and experience at CIM. 

In response, Laredo offered more than mere encouragement. He offered abundant praise, in a nurturing way that suggested their performance may induce a little melting on the part of the audience, too.  

“You are great at this,” Laredo told Lee. “You really are....It’s like everything’s going to be alright, because you’re there. We all feel that, and we are all very grateful, that you’re there.” 

 

Tuesday, October 8 

7:30pm | Severance Music Center 

CIM Orchestra 

Jake Taniguchi, conductor (GD ’24) 

Jaime Laredo, violin 

Jessica Lee, violin 

BEETHOVEN   Egmont Overture, Op. 84 

PRICE   String Quartet No. 1 in G Major: II. Andante moderato (arr. Martin) 

BACH   Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043 

BEETHOVEN   Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60 

Severance Ticket Office: clevelandorchestra.com or 216.231.1111 

Governing Member VIP Tickets: 216.795.3160 

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