Americans lament a famed concertmaster

The esteemed violinist Jorja Fleezanis has died at her home in northern Michgan. She was 70.

We hear that she was found there by friends, who arrived to play chamber music.

Of Greek parentage, Jorja Fleezanis grew up in Detroit and became only the second woman to serve as concertmaster in a major US orchestra when she took the first chair in Minnesota. She served there from 1989 to 2009. Two eminent conductors have told us overnight that she was the best concertmaster they ever knew. At Minnesota, she gave the world premiere of the John Adams violin concerto, a work written for her.

Jorja Fleezanis was married to the music critic and concert annotator Michael Steinberg, who predeceased her in 2009.

In latter years she was a much-loved teacher at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

UPDATE: World’s tributes to Jorja