Jennifer Arnold

Viola

What convinced you that you wanted a career in music?

Truthfully, I was still teetering between music and pre-med until the beginning of my junior year in high school. Music won out because they wanted me to take advanced calculus and I decided on study hall. I literally paid for that decision because if I had taken the calculus class, the credits would have transferred and I would not have had to take the math/science requirement at the Cleveland Institute of Music that they implemented my freshman year.

What are you listening to right now?

I am rarely seen around Portland without my iPod and I get ready for our early morning rehearsals by blasting a mixed playlist of every Madonna, Michael Jackson and John Mayer song ever recorded. I also frequently listen to the Cleveland Quartet versions of Brahms A and C minor string quartets, and of course, my favorite chamber music work, Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor.

How did you choose your instrument?

My parents started me on Suzuki violin when I was 5. I like to say that my instrument chose me, but really I was given the viola in 1992 when there was a shortage of violists in the junior orchestra at Interlochen Arts Camp. When I returned home at the end of the summer, I asked my mom if she could dig up her old viola from college. I started getting serious around age 16 with viola because I would frequently “forget” my violin for my violin lessons and “accidentally” bring my viola instead with viola concertos prepared and memorized instead of violin concertos.

What is on your nightstand?

I just moved and gave away my nightstand so I don’t even have one yet, but on my floor or under my pillow are the “Idiot’s Guide to Saving and Planning in your 20s and 30s,” “The Complete Jane Austen Collection volume 1,” US Weekly, “A Mighty Heart” by Mariane Pearl, and “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama.

What guest artist would you most like to perform with?

I love listening and backing up violin concerti. William Preucil and Gil Shaham would be amazing to play with. I have also heard wonderful things about violinist Janine Jensen. Two years ago she received a five minute round of applause after she finished the first movement of Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra. For Pops, no doubt Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, John Mayer and Alicia Keys. Sadly, three of those probably play to crowds 10,000 and up.

Besides your instrument, what is your most treasured possession?

My friends.