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Joela Jones: Distinguished Cleveland Artist
PHOTO BY HILARY BOVAY
Closing out a half-century career as Th e Cleveland Orchestra’s longest-serving principal player,
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Joela Jones
talks about her passions for music and music-making — and the extraordinary people she’s worked with onstage and off .
OPPOSITE PAGE:
Joela Jones with Richard Weiss and (top) their son Justin.
Distinguished Artist Distinguished Artist JOELA JONES by Amanda Angel
USIC WAS NEVER merely about playing notes for Joela Jones. Growing up in Miami, Florida, she fi rst learned to play piano from her mother, Inez Alma Jordan Jones. Though young Joela showed immediate promise at the keyboard, her mother wanted her to delve deeper. Having majored in English literature, Mrs. Jones introduced Joela to the poetry she loved: Keats, Shelley, Browning, and Tennyson.
“She shaped me in so many ways musically, and intellectually and emotionally,” Jones recalls. “Even when I was seven, eight, nine years old, while I would be playing a slow movement of something beautiful, at home learning and practicing, she would be sitting beside me reciting the saddest, the most grief stricken, or most beautiful poems of these English poets because she wanted me to go beyond the notes. She wanted me to be sure and have
feelings for things.” Joela Jones’s singular career with The Cleve land Orchestra — across 54 seasons, more than 250 concerto performances, plus thousands of other unforgettable concerts — stands out as extraordinary. But her contributions go well beyond the countless notes played on stage. These were decades fi lled with Monday night rehearsals, accompanying the remarkable volunteers of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, afternoons or mornings in coaching sessions interacting with conductors and guest vocalists, added chamber music rehearsals, and many Orchestra committee meetings she sat through, working tirelessly for the sake of her fellow musicians and the ensemble. When the 2021-22 season opens on October 14, Joela will receive the Orchestra’s Distinguished Service Award, “recognizing her extraordinary artistic achievements and dedicated service to music and to the Greater Cleveland community.” Three days later, she will play her fi nal concert as principal keyboard as she retires from the Orchestra. She stands as the ensemble’s longest-serving principal player of any section.
“She has always had the interest of the Orchestra at her heart, the center of her heart,” says music director Franz Welser-Möst. “It didn’t matter if she was on stage or off stage, she would really thrive on quality. The artistic quality was priority number one for her, period. And everything else didn’t matter.”
GROWING UP
The daughter of two teachers, Jones along with her older sister Jenna (her eldest sister Julia died before Joela was born) were encouraged to try new hobbies and skills. “Our parents, being educators, wanted to expose us to as many diff erent aspects and possibilities,” she says. “My sister and I used to say, ‘Don’t tell mom or dad that we like something, or they’ll have us take lessons in it’.” Along with piano, Joela learned ice skating and baton twirling. Taking on an additional instrument — the accordion, which her father Stefan Luther Jones played — took some negotiating. She off ered to replace her free playtime with accordion practice, and quickly fell in love with the instrument. Both of her parents recognized that Joela had a special gift for music. But perhaps when a salesman came to the Jones house, drawn by the sound of the piano, they realized her talent was truly exceptional. “He asked to see me. His mother was a professional pianist, and he couldn’t believe that an eight-year-old was playing,” Joela says. Seeking to further their daughter’s musical training, the Joneses wrote to one of the most acclaimed musicians in Florida, Ernst von Dohnányi. The eminent Austro-Hungarian pianist and composer (and grandfather of Christoph von Dohnányi, who later became music director in Cleveland) had been teaching at Florida State University in Tallahassee since immigrating to the
United States in 1949. Ten-year-old Joela played a Chopin ballade for him and his response was unequivocal — she was a prodigy. He also recommended that the promising young musician leave Florida and continue her musical instruction at one of the northern conservatories. The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, soon awarded her a full scholarship. Yet, the move meant that Joela had to leave an instrument behind. “When Ernst von Dohnányi told my parents that I was a piano prodigy, they took away my accordion, and sold it for $75,” she recalls. “I even remember the amount because it broke my heart. It was a beautiful white accordion with little gold keys and gold buttons.” At Eastman, Jones studied from the age of 12 to 15 under Cuban pianist José Echániz. She was also taken under the wing of conductor and composer Paul White, who ran the Rochester Civic Orchestra and taught at the conservatory. The Civic Orchestra performed at local high schools, and White felt that featuring a teenage piano soloist — who was the same age as his target audience — would be a winning combination.
“He asked me if I would like to start playing concertos with his orchestra. And it was wonderful,” Jones says. “I received a special education from this wonderful conductor and musician who taught me basically how to play as a soloist with an orchestra.”
A CHANGE OF COURSE
At that point, Jones’s career as a soloist seemed all but certain. Famed Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler came to conduct the Rochester Philharmonic, and the director of the Eastman School recommended Jones over one of the college-aged musicians. Fieldler was so impressed that he extended invitations for her to perform with him at orchestras around the country. After completing high school in Rochester while attending Eastman, Jones’s studies brought her to the Cleveland Institute of Music to study with Victor Babin. It wasn’t long before Fiedler also came to town to conduct members of The Cleveland Orchestra in one of their annual Summer Pops concerts at Public Auditorium. Naturally, Fielder reached out to Jones to perform the solo part in Edward MacDowell’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The performance in July 1966 so impressed Cleveland associate conductor Louis Lane (who conducted many of the Summer Pops presentation and also doubled as the Orchestra’s keyboardist) that he mentioned Jones to music director George Szell. The following spring, Szell was to conduct a piano concerto by the Orchestra’s composerin-residence, Russell Smith, as part of a new music festival
MORE ONLINE . . .
Watch a documentary about Joela and listen to a musical playlist highlighting a selection of performances that have signifi cance to her.
Visit: clevelandorchestra.com/joela
underwritten by the Rockefeller Foundation. The scheduled soloist had cancelled on relatively short notice and Jones’s name came up. She recalls: “I learned it in three weeks. It was about a 40-minute concerto, a very long piece. I learned it, and Szell was very, very pleased with my playing.” He was so pleased that after the three scheduled performances of the Smith Concerto, Szell invited Jones to join the Orchestra. Until that point, Jones had been focusing on a career as a soloist. From before the age of 12, she had been performing concertos and playing recitals, developing her own interpretations and feelings beyond the score. “It entered my mind that perhaps I was making a mistake. That I was, to quote my mother, ‘Giving up a fulltime solo career.’ I think it’s the fi rst time in my
George Szell would always fi nd something new to discuss or recreate. I remember sitting in one rehearsal of the famous Mozart G-minor Symphony. And it was a Thursday morning before the performance that night and most conductors would just run through the piece. He said, ‘Do you know, we don't have too much to talk about with this because we've played it so much. But there's this one spot.’ And he worked on, I think it was about 12 measures. And 45 minutes later, he was still working with the strings’ bowing to get a particular sound.”
Lorin Maazel was a genius. He spoke seven languages, memorized all his scores at the drop of a hat. He was a beautiful conductor, you didn't even need to listen to the orchestra, just watch him conduct. He looked like a ballet dancer. He was only here 10 years, and I played 12 diff erent concertos with him over that time. He inspired confi dence in me. Because he was confi dent about my playing, it made me confi dent.”
I love Pierre Boulez. With all my heart. He was maybe the biggest infl uence on my entire life and music. He had the most delightful sense of humor. He had this very infectious chuckle. And it was just delightful and you couldn't help but join in whatever he was feeling. I learned to love Messiaen because of him. Because of him, I was exposed to much more contemporary music that I hadn't been before.”
Christoph von Dohnányi would end Thursday morning rehearsals usually by saying, 'Yes, yes, something like that, but tonight, a little bit of magic, yes.' That was his way of saying, we haven't quite gotten there yet. Let's see if we can get even further. And so it kept all of us from being too satisfi ed, and relaxed. No, we can strive for more, we can get even better, we can achieve something more.”
Franz Welser-Möst is so brilliant. He is so cerebral, and yet he can be so friendly and nice. He's almost a dichotomy. When he gets into his music, though he’s very serious, very dedicated, very honest and genuine. When he looks at a score, he's not thinking about himself, or you, or your instrument, or anything. He's only thinking about what the composer wanted. And he will go to any lengths to achieve that.”
Joela Jones with (top to bottom) George Szell, Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Franz Welser-Möst.
life that I made a decision diff erent from my mother’s,” she admits. However, she also saw many aspiring solo pianists living from hand to mouth, enduring grueling schedules, and suff ering fallow periods. Many were struggling both artistically and fi nancially. A position with The Cleveland Orchestra off ered security on both ends, along with a cadre of talented musicians to collaborate with on a daily basis. It also helped that Szell assured Jones that she would perform many concertos as a member of the ensemble, a promise that was realized even though Szell died three years later, in 1970. When she began in 1968, Szell and Lane also mentioned that Jones would be able to become the Orchestra’s fi rst true principal keyboardist if she added the organ to her portfolio of instruments. Jones had already studied harpsichord in college, and she began studying organ under Warren Barryman of Baldwin Wallace College, practicing six hours per day. In 1972, Joela was offi cially given the title and contract as Principal Keyboard.
DEDICATED TO MUSIC ONSTAGE AND OFF
At The Cleveland Orchestra, Jones almost immediately felt “fully satisfi ed and fulfi lled.” At the same time, she was fi nding a welcoming family of musicians on the Severance Hall stage. Every day seemed to expand her musical horizons, sight-reading orchestra reductions for chorus rehearsals, coaching sessions with vocal soloists, or playing chamber music with fellow Orches tra musicians. One day, while playing Dvořák’s Piano Quintet, she was caught off guard by “the most beautiful cello playing I had ever heard. I looked over, and Richard Weiss was playing the cello. And I immediately knew that I was in love with his playing,” she says. Weiss had joined the Orchestra that 1974-75 season, fresh out of Rochester’s Eastman School. The two quickly found they had much more in common than their love of music. They began dating in May, were engaged by August, and got married in December 1975. Jones calls their son, Justin, now a lawyer outside of Washington D.C., their greatest accomplishment. In 1979, another musical love came back into her life: “I heard Lorin Maazel talking backstage one day with David Zauder, our personnel manager, about how they needed an accordion player for Del Tredici’s Final Alice. When I heard that, I said, ‘Could I see the part? If somebody could fi nd an accordion for me, I think I can play it.’ They were delighted. Zauder went to a music store here in Cleveland and got me an accordion. And that was a delight to be reconnected to the accordion.” Jones was asked to reprise her accordion-playing role for a 1995 concert version of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck. This time The Cleveland Orchestra gave her a blank check, but asked her to keep the cost at no more than $2,400. She found one at that price, but bargained it down to $2,100, along with a $50 case. This past August, she says, when she packed up the accordion and returned it to Severance Hall, “I told the stagehands to take good care of it.”
Hail & Farewell In addition to Joela Jones, these three Cleveland Orchestra musicians are retiring with the start of this season. Together, these four represent 148 seasons of service with the Orchestra. Please join in wishing them every happiness in the next stages of their lives.
Arthur Klima — 44 years
Art joined The Cleveland Orchestra during the 1977-78 season, after schooling at the University of Illinois and Yale University, and following fi ve seasons with the Baltimore Symphony. Mark Dumm — 36 years Mark studied at Indiana University with former Cleveland concertmaster Josef Gingold, joining The Cleveland Orch estra in 1985. He served as assistant principal second violin 1993-2008. Robert O’Brien — 14 years
Bob joined The Cleveland Orchestra in 2007, became head librarian in 2008, and retires in December. He was previously principal librarian with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Another instrument she leaves behind as part of her legacy is the Norton Memorial Organ. Jones had played the 1930 E.M. Skinner instrument in her early years at the Orchestra, but it had been hidden above the stage and heard only through electronic amplifi cation since the late 1950s (for more information about this and the history of Severance Hall’s acoustics, see pages 24-27). From 1976 forward, she usually played an onstage electronic instrument when a score called for organ. As plans for the 2000 renovations were drawn up, a decision had to be made: whether to install a new organ or renovate the existing one. Jones strongly advocated for the renovation. “Severance Hall has a unique sound, and the Skinner organ suits that sound. A newer one would have been brighter, which wouldn’t have been right for the hall,” she explains. The original Skinner organ and its 6,025 pipes were given new life with a restoration overseen by the Schantz Organ Company based in Orrville, Ohio. Jones helped inaugurate the organ in January 2001, performing the refurbished “king of instruments” for the fi rst time in Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony. She’s since played it in works by Charles Ives to spooky Halloween performances of Bach’s Toccata in D minor — complete with a cape and phantom-of-the-opera mask. As she steps away from her fulltime job with the Orchestra this year, Jones is reluctant to consider her legacy. Having spent more than a half-century of making music in Cleveland, she has seen colleagues retire or join other orchestras, and watched their seats be fi lled by younger, equally talented musicians. Yet in retrospect, she confesses: “They left a legacy through what they passed on to the people who were still there, who are still here — their dedication to this orchestra and dedication to music.”
Amanda Angel serves as managing editor of content for Th e Cleveland Orchestra.
To be presented at the concert on Thursday, October 14, at Severance Hall
JOELA JONES fi rst appeared as a concerto soloist with musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra for a Summer Pops concert in 1966. The world premiere of a new concerto with George Szell came the following year, after which he asked her to join his world-renowned group as keyboardist. Her name fi rst appeared on the ensemble’s printed roster with Blossom Music Center’s inaugural seson in 1968, and in 1972 she was offi cially designated as the Orchestra’s Principal Keyboard player. She has held the Rudolf Serkin Endowed Chair since its creation in 1977. This fall, after more than a half-century of service, Joela retires as The Cleveland Orchestra’s longest-serving principal player of any section. Her versatility, musicality, and artistry — not just on piano, but including organ, celesta, synthesizer, and her personal favorite, accordion — have been demonstrated in over 250 performances of more than 50 concertos or works featuring a solo keyboard role. In addition, she has played thousands of further performances — of prominent (and challenging) keyboard parts from across the orchestral repertoire, as well as playing in countless education programs and ably performing many chamber music pieces with colleagues. Born in Florida, Joela was encouraged to pursue varied interests by her educator parents. She explored the skills given her and a wide range of subjects, but piano was always at the forefront, with music in the center. She was declared a prodigy by age 10. Told to pursue her dreams, she did. Her mother moved to Rochester for Joela to study at Eastman School of Music while still in high school. Further studies brought her Cleveland, where she found her musical home. Here, she also found love, creating her own family while at the same time becoming an indispensable member of Cleveland’s Orchestra family. Across 54 years as a member, Joela has worked under fi ve of The Cleveland Orchestra’s musical leaders, along with countless guest conductors and assistants. Her musicality has been tested and featured across music of many diff erent genres, styles, and eras — from Baroque to Modern, Mozart to MacDowell, Beethoven to Boulez, and Tchaikovsky to Contemporary. Throughout, she has always exemplifi ed the unique collaborative traits and mindset for which The Cleveland Orchestra is acclaimed around the world, blending a keen sense of artistry with an understanding of ensemblework and balance — to shine as an individual when her role requires, or to humbly blend together in service to each composer’s soundworld. In recognition of her many contributions and talents, the Musical Arts Association is pleased to recognize her extraordinary artistic achievements and dedicated service to music, to The Cleveland Orchestra, and to the Greater Cleveland community by bestowing on Joela Jones our highest award for distinguished service. 19
