Jorja Fleezanis
Jorja Fleezanis, March 19, 1952, is an American violinist who is currently the Henry A. Upper Chair at Indiana University. Fleezanis grew up in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Greek immigrants. She studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Cincinnati Conservatory and later won a spot in the Chicago Symphony. Fleezanis was concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra from 1989 to 2009—the longest-tenured concertmaster in the orchestra's history and only the second woman in the U.S. to hold the title of concertmaster in a major orchestra when appointed. Prior to Minnesota, she was associate  concertmaster with the San Francisco Symphony for eight years. In 1994, she premiered John Adams' Violin Concerto—a work commissioned for her by the Minnesota Orchestra—with then-music director Edo de Waart leading the orchestra. Fleezanis became an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota's School of Music in 1990. She has also maintained teaching roles with other organizations as teacher and artist at the Round Top Festival Institute in Texas (1990–2007); artist in residence at the University of California, Davis; guest artist and teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory, where she served on the faculty from  1981 to 1989; artist and mentor at the Music@Menlo Festival (2003–2008); teacher and coach at the New World Symphony (1988–2017) and a visiting teacher to the Boston Conservatory, the Juilliard School, and Interlochen Academy and Summer Camp. She was married to Michael Steinberg (music critic).