Tucson violinist Jacqueline Rodenbeck spent her first summer after high school checking off a couple of boxes that can take most musicians a lifetime to achieve.
If ever.
Carnegie Hall debut?
Check.
First international orchestra tour?
Check.
Next up: Sunday’s debut with Tucson’s St. Andrew’s Bach Society.
“I’m excited and sort of nervous,” the 17-year-old said early this week. “Obviously with (National Youth Orchestra), I’ve been focusing a lot on the orchestra music and we didn’t have a lot of time on tour to do other things. So I’m a little bit nervous, but, I mean, I have this week to prepare and practice, and hopefully it’ll go well.”
Jacqueline, who won the junior division of the prestigious Sphinx Competition last February, will perform the first two movements of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor and Sarasate’s Introduction and Tarantella on a program that also includes a pair of works by William Grant Still and Paganini’s Caprice No. 24.
She and her accompanist, Kathyrn Lieppman, will close out the afternoon with William Bolcom’s “Graceful Ghost,” the first of three so-called “ghost rags” the 20th century New York composer wrote for piano. Jacqueline is playing a version transcribed for violin.
Jacqueline’s whirlwind summer kicks off her planned gap year before she starts college, where she plans to double-major in environmental science and violin performance. She hasn’t decided which direction she’ll take, although her experience touring in Asia with the National Youth Orchestra gave her a glimpse of what could be.
“Obviously it makes me more aware of what the professional world is really like, so in some ways that makes me want to do it more, but it also kind of gives me a reality check,” she explained. “But I enjoy playing music, ... and as far as a career in music, I’m still unsure about what I would do or whether I would do it.”
Jacqueline, who graduated in May from Pusch Ridge Christian Academy in Oro Valley, spent two weeks in June at the Sphinx Performance Academy at Berklee College of Music’s Boston Conservatory before she went to New York City in early July to be part of Carnegie Hall’s prestigious month-long National Youth Orchestra.
The orchestra, under Conductor Gianandrea Noseda and with guest soloist violinist Ray Chen, performed at Carnegie Hall days before leaving for a two-week Asian tour, with stops in Tokyo and Osaka in Japan; Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing in China; and Seoul, South Korea.
It was the first time Jacqueline had performed internationally and the experience gave her a glimpse of what life would look like as part of a professional orchestra.
“It’s definitely been valuable getting to see what a career in music would be like,” she said.
Sunday’s concert begins at 2 p.m. at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St. Tickets are $16 through standrewsbach.org.
Next month, Jacqueline makes her Tucson Symphony Orchestra debut, joining Conductor José Luis Gomez and the ensemble for the Mexican Consulate of Tucson’s annual Mexican Independence Day concert on Sept. 15 at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Jacqueline will solo on the Introduction and Tarantella by Sarasate.
Tickets to the concert are free but must be reserved in advance through the consulate, consulmex.sre.gob.mx/tucson.
Tucson violinist Jacqueline Rodenbeck is closing out the 2025 St. Andrew’s Bach Society summer concert series with a recital on Sunday, Aug. 17.
