A Conversation with Joel Link

Do you remember your first experience with The Cleveland Orchestra?

My first experience was as a student at the Encore School for Strings in Hudson, Ohio. Every summer, they would bring students to Blossom to hear the Orchestra. The first time I went, Gil Shaham was playing John Williams’s Tree Song with Williams conducting [July 27, 2002]. I was too young to fully grasp what I was hearing, but during my subsequent summers at Encore, I signed up every time there was an opportunity to hear the Orchestra.

Can you share a bit about the instrument you play on?

My violin doesn’t actually belong to me — it’s on loan through Beare’s International Violin Society.

During the pandemic, they told me on a Zoom call that a wonderful patron and good friend, Irene Miller, had sold a condo to buy an instrument for me. It was made by Peter Guarneri of Mantua around 1713, and it’s been such a privilege to play. I’m so glad that Irene is comfortable with me bringing it here to Cleveland and having it become a part of the Orchestra.

It hasn’t been a direct path to this position. Can you share a bit about what brought you to this point?

I studied at Curtis, with Pamela Frank and the late Joe Silverstein, and formed a string quartet — the Dover Quartet — towards the end of my undergrad. We won some competitions and our career took off, so that has been the main focus of my life until now.

Chamber music translates surprisingly well to orchestral playing. People assume it’s a transition from making all your own decisions to a situation where you make no decisions, but neither is 100% like that. In a quartet, you split a lot of the decision-making, so everything becomes a musical compromise. I think the same goes for being in the Orchestra — there are so many small decisions that the person standing on the podium can’t make, so you can bring your own individuality to it.

With that in mind, how has your adjustment to the Orchestra been so far?

I think the repertoire is the biggest difference moving from a string quartet to an orchestra, and I’m looking forward to discovering a tremendous amount of music — some of which I know, but most of which I don’t.

But I’m loving it so far. People have been so kind and welcoming, and playing in this Orchestra is a dream. I’ve played in many fine orchestras over the years, but there’s something very unique about Cleveland. When everyone comes so prepared, there’s a commitment to not let the quality slide and a desire to keep raising the bar. I’m excited to be here and am ready for more!