Taking the Lead

Oberlin students kick off the 2013-14 orchestral season this week with concerts featuring faculty soloists and with Raphael Jiménez on the podium.

Associate Professor Jiménez is a masterful educator, and the director of Oberlin’s orchestras. He began training as a violinist in Venezuela’s famed El Sistema youth orchestra program, where he also had his first conducting opportunities. By age 22, Jiménez had secured his first professional conducting appointment and was working with all of the professional orchestras in Venezuela. Since then he has conducted symphonies, ballets, and operas worldwide. Jiménez made his Carnegie Hall debut last January with the Oberlin Orchestra.

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Photograph by Chris Lee