BIO

Violist Jane Lenz (née Larson) is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Bachelor of Music), studying with Kirsten Docter, and the Juilliard School (Master of Music), studying with Carol Rodland.

While at Juilliard, Jane received a Morse Teaching Artist Fellowship allowing her to develop her teaching skills and work with local students through community engagement collaborations in New York City. She has worked as a coach with the Williamsburg Youth Symphony, Northern Ohio Youth Orchestras and as a teacher for Chicagoland’s Ping! program, providing young students equitable access to private lessons and instruments. She has also served on the viola faculty at StringTime, a beginner-friendly summer music camp in Burke, Virginia. Jane received Suzuki Certification in Violin Books 1-3 at the School for Strings in New York City.

Jane has performed throughout the United States as both a modern and baroque violist. Her appearances include multiple summers with the Adirondacks Performing Arts Fellowship, where she performed with both the festival orchestra and string quartet, as well as engagements with Chicagoland’s 6:26 Concert Series and the Kenaniah Project, a Rochester, New York–based collaborative ensemble combining Christian faith and artistic excellence. Since joining the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in 2023, she has performed frequently throughout the Hampton Roads region. She also serves as principal violist of the Northern Neck Orchestra and is a regular performer on both the Northern Neck Chamber Music Series in Kilmarnock, Virginia, and St. Luke’s Music Series in Smithfield, Virginia. As a baroque violist, Jane appears regularly with Williamsburg Baroque in Williamsburg, Virginia, and, during her studies, performed with Juilliard415 and the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble. Her early music training was further enriched through secondary studies with Cynthia Roberts while attending The Juilliard School. In addition to her performing career, Jane began teaching Applied Viola at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia in 2023.

Jane was a 2019 Concerto Competition winner at Oberlin, and a second prize winner in the 2019 Ohio Viola Society competition. During her time at Oberlin she was part of the Performing Artists In Residence program at the Oberlin Center for the Arts, and formed string quartets which have performed in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Nebraska for various performance opportunities.

Outside of music, Jane enjoys cooking and playing Wingspan, her favorite board game, with her husband, Patrick, Composer/Arranger for the U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band.

Photo Credit: Rosen-Jones Photography