Jessica Oudin
Biography
Jessica Oudin joined the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Viola Section in January 2011. Ms. Oudin has been a frequent substitute with both The Cleveland Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra and has in addition performed with the Baltimore, Houston, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras. During the summer, she serves as the Assistant Principal Violist of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music under the direction of Marin Alsop. Additional festival appearances include Festival Mozaic, The International Musicians’ Seminar at Prussia Cove (UK), The Sarasota Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Music@Menlo, The Perlman Chamber Music Program, and The Aspen Music Festival.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Oudin has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has collaborated with renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman at both Carnegie Hall and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. With the Kashii String Quartet, she was a Silver Medalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and has served on the chamber music faculty for the Innsbrook Music Institute and the Yellow Barn Music School Young Artist Program. She currently performs with the Riverside Chamber Players.
Ms. Oudin maintains a private viola studio, and she currently serves on the faculty of the ASO’s Talent Development Program. She has taught at Reinhardt University, Franklin Pond Chamber Music Program, and has presented a viola master-class at Kennesaw State University.
Ms. Oudin graduated with high honors from The Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was a student of Jeffrey Irvine, and holds a Masters's degree from The Juilliard School, where she was a teaching assistant to Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. Further studies were undertaken at CIM as a student in the Professional Studies Program under the tutelage of Robert Vernon.
Q & A
What year did you join the ASO?
2011
What's the most interesting or difficult facet of your instrument?
The viola straddles two registers - and can either be used to complement the upper voices of the violins or help to fill in the richness of the celli and bassi.
Cats or dogs?
I will always love both - but our patched tabby cat Ginger would demand that I answer "CATS!"
Earliest musical hero?
Itzhak Perlman. His appearance on Sesame Street in 1980 is what inspired me to want to learn to play the violin. Years later, I had the opportunity to study with - and later perform alongside - my musical hero. That was a surreal moment for me!
Most memorable/favorite ASO memory or moment?
My first concert with the ASO once I learned that I had passed the "trial" phase after a successful audition. We were performing Arvo Part's Fratres, Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin, and Janacek's Glagolitic Mass at Carnegie Hall. The combination of that majestic concert hall, the incredible repertoire, and the knowledge that I had found my musical home - my musical family - was just so overwhelming. I remember fighting tears onstage when we took our bows.