Department of Music

Jesse Holstein graduated from Oberlin where he studied with Marilyn McDonald. He then received his Master’s degree with James Buswell at the New England Conservatory. Prior to Oberlin, he studied violin with Philipp Naegele in Northampton, Massachusetts. Jesse would be remiss if he did not send a huge thank you to his wonderful Suzuki teacher Diana Peelle who started him at age 5 and was extremely patient with his posture for years.

An active recitalist, orchestral and chamber musician, Jesse is currently concertmaster of the New Bedford Symphony.  In recent summers, he has performed at the Bravo! Festival in Vail Colorado, the Montana Chamber Music Festival in Bozeman, the Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine, and the Apple Hill Festival in Sullivan, New Hampshire.  Jesse also has attended the Violin Craftsmanship Institute in Durham, New Hampshire, where he learned about instrument repair. Since 2013, he has been on the faculty at the Greenwood Music Camp at the foot of the Berkshires in Cummington, Massachusetts. Greenwood is where he  himself was bitten by the chamber music bug as a teen.

While an undergraduate, Jesse taught for the Oberlin Preparatory Program in the Lorain, Ohio public schools. Also at Oberlin, he served as Assistant Concertmaster and later as Music Director of the Royal Farfissa Disco Juggernaut.

Currently, Jesse is a teacher and resident musician for Community MusicWorks and was a founding member of the Providence String Quartet, With the Quartet, Jesse performed with the Muir, Miro, Orion, and St. Lawrence Quartets, as well as pianist, Jonathan Biss; cellist, Matt Haimovitz; Cleveland Orchestra Principal Oboe, Frank Rosenwein, and violist Kim Kashkashian, among others.  Community MusicWorks is a youth and family-mentoring program that provides free instruments, lessons and a variety of programs for youth in urban neighborhoods in Providence.

Jesse was has been a Violin Professeur at L’Ecole de Musique, Dessaix Baptiste in Jacmel, Haiti. He currently is on the faculty at Brown University.

One of his interests is how Buddhist mindfulness practice and meditation intersects with teaching and performing music. In the fall of 2013 he was granted a sabbatical from Community MusicWorks to attend the Plum Village Monastery in Bordeaux France.

He has a cat, Lord Nelson. Lord Nelson is an ordained on-line minister (this is true) and is available for weddings and services (this is probably not true).