Oregon Symphony Musician Jen Arnold

jen arnold, gia goodrich, oregon sympony
Photo by Gia Goodrich

written by Kevin Max | featured photo by Gia Goodrich


gia goodrich, jen arnold, oregon symphony

She picked up a violin when she was 4, then living in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. As she improved, her father, an amateur jazz musician, started taking her to bars to play with his band. Her mom, a former string player and a school principal, began reading about the Suzuki method for musical training and soon made her oldest child, Jen, a laboratory mouse.

Arnold, now 33, and nine years a member of the Oregon Symphony, has her viola in her hands performing or practicing more than forty hours per week. “One of the things that people don’t realize is that we have to be prepared at the first rehearsal,” she said. “You’re not working on notes but on concepts.”

See Jen Arnold play with the Oregon Symphony at orsymphony.org or with her quartet Mousai Remix at Cyril’s Wine Bar, November 30 at 7 p.m.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.