Jorge Vera performs at an assisted living home as part of the
Musician-in-Residence initiative at the Allentown Symphony Association.
Photo courtesy of Jorge Vera.

The Allentown Symphony Association (ASA), which owns and operates Miller Symphony Hall in downtown Allentown, seeks to develop musicians who reflect the communities they serve and expand access to orchestral music beyond the traditional concert hall. Last August, they named Jorge Vera, originally from Paraguay and now based in Allentown, PA, as their inaugural Musician-in-Residence. In this dual role, Jorge serves as a tenure-track violinist for the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (ASO), and as a Teaching Artist with El Sistema Lehigh Valley, an after-school program providing free music education and tutoring to youth. Jorge spoke with us about how this one-of-a-kind residency has taken him from refugee support centers to assisted living facilities, opening the doors of music to audiences in unexpected corners of Allentown's communities.

What drew you to this opportunity in Allentown?

My violin teacher sent it to me. He said, “Jorge, this is you.” We had talked a lot about what would make me feel fulfilled as a musician, and I kept coming back to giving back to a community.

In classical music, there is so much competition, literally and figuratively. Everything is about who can play more, who completes the most performances. But when I read about this position, I knew it was different. It was about giving to the community and helping people feel connected to music. I wanted every performance to be more than a good concert. I wanted to create memorable experiences for the people in the audience. It sounded exactly like what I was looking for.

Walk us through your journey to becoming a classical musician.

I have a very unorthodox background, because I started at around 10, with folk music. I didn't listen to classical composers until I was 15. That's really late for classical musicians. Everyone else I trained with started at three or four, or their parents were in an orchestra. I come from a family of farmers in the countryside, and my childhood looked very simple, in a good way. I loved being barefoot, out in nature, listening to what I think of as the beautiful chaos of a forest.

I started through a free community program; we were 40 students total, but there were only nine violins, so we had to take turns learning. Because I came to music this way, my teachers were honest with me. They said, “You're late to the party. This has to be your food, your life. When you wake up, you start practicing.” And I did all of that. But that competitiveness was never the reason I chose to play. I was the first person in my family to go to college, the first to go abroad. I've been lucky enough to play in Europe and many other countries, all because of music. I wanted to give back some of what music has given me.

Are there any moments that stand out for you as you reflect on the last year of the residency?

There have been plenty. Early on, we played for a refugee community center here in Allentown, where people arriving from very difficult situations in different countries get help with paperwork and learning English. Before the concert, I asked the director for a list of the countries the center was serving, and she gave me eight or nine. I went home, researched each one, and found their most popular songs.

At the concert, I did my classical music repertoire but also played these songs from each of their countries—I wanted to bring a piece of each of their homes to them in that room. I wanted this to be a core memory for them. During the performance, I was so focused on the music that I didn't look up until I finished. When I did, I saw people crying, people humming along. One person told me, “That's a lullaby my mother used to sing to me. I haven't heard it in forever.” For me, it was hours of practice. For them, it was a reassurance, a piece of home.

This is very different than playing in an orchestra. In an orchestra, we are on a stage with spotlights, and we usually enter through a different entrance than the audience, so everything is a little bit separate. But this feels like such an intimate way of connecting with the audience—they're two feet away from you. You can hear their breath. You can see their expressions of awe.

AE&E Fund is proud to support the Allentown Symphony Association’s innovative Musician-in-Residence program with multi-year funding.

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