Music
Jorja Fleezanis
1952–2022 · violinist, concertmaster, teacher
Cass Tech-trained violinist from a Greek immigrant family in Detroit who was concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra for twenty years and premiered John Adams's Violin Concerto.
- Born
- Died
aged 70- Birth name
- Jorja Kay Fleezanis
- Detroit years
- 1950s–1970
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Fleezanis grew up in Detroit, the daughter of Greek immigrants, and graduated from Cass Technical High School, whose music program trained many of the city's orchestral players. She studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Cincinnati Conservatory, won a seat in the Chicago Symphony and spent eight years as associate concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony. In 1989 she became concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra, only the second woman to hold that title in a major American orchestra, and she stayed until 2009, the longest tenure in the orchestra's history. In 1994 she gave the premiere of John Adams's Violin Concerto, written for her, under Edo de Waart. She later held the Henry A. Upper Chair at Indiana University and coached at the New World Symphony and many festivals. She was married to the music critic Michael Steinberg and died in 2022.
Highlights
- Graduate of Cass Technical High School in Detroit
- Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra, 1989–2009
- Second woman to be concertmaster of a major U.S. orchestra
- Premiered John Adams's Violin Concerto (1994)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · about 1966–1970
Cass Technical High School
Demolished · 1922–2011
Fleezanis graduated from Cass Tech in its 1922 building, demolished in 2011.