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BY ANAGHA KRISHNAN

In print | Published April 10, 2008

To say that Jenna McCreery ’10 literally has music in her blood would not be an exaggeration. The daughter of a violinist mother and a cellist father, McCreery began practicing the cello at the age of five. If McCreery chooses musicianship as a career, she will be the 3rd generation professional on both sides of her family.

Despite this illustrious background, her parents encouraged her to cultivate other interests, which led to her enrollment at Swarthmore. “They didn’t want me to go to a music conservatory. They wanted me to have the full college experience so that I could discover a love of music by myself,” McCreery said.

McCreery describes her “Eureka!” moment as one that occurred during high school when she was performing at the Brevard Music Center, under famed conductor Keith Lockhart. The orchestra was playing “Hinds of Rome” to a packed house when McCreery recounts she felt a “moment of ecstasy” as she played.

“I thought to myself, ‘I don’t get this level of excitement out of anything ever. My friends playing instruments around me feel this, the conductor feels this and the people listening to me are feeling it too.’” McCreery said, “I began to cry, and just really loved music in that moment.”

However, McCreery admits that she had not considered going professional until recently. Her change of mind stems partly from the encouragement of her instructor, Umi Kendall and her recent admission into the prestigious National Repertory Orchestra.

The NRO is a non-profit organization for young orchestra students who show promise. Students at conservatories nationwide look at NRO as a chance to obtain invaluable orchestral training and exposure to the professional music world. NRO alumni currently perform in various orchestras throughout the United States and worldwide. In February, the organization held an audition tour to select 89 participants altogether. Out of these individuals, they were looking for only 12 cellists.

McCreery realized that auditioning would mean a serious commitment. “Auditions are like the Olympics. You practice five months for a five minute piece and you only have one shot at getting it,” McCreery said.

McCreery began preparing orchestral excerpts five to six months in advance and practiced a minimum of 3 hours a day. When the time came, she traveled to the Manhattan School of Music in order to make her 9 a.m. audition.

McCreery is not someone that becomes nervous easily, but she admits that in that moment, she was more nervous than she’d ever been. Nevertheless, the audition went smoothly. Upon learning of her acceptance, she was delighted and also humbled. Her acceptance was even more remarkable because she is an unusually young candidate. The program mostly accepts graduate students and young professionals.

She describes her contract with the NRO, which is based in Breckinridge, Colorado, as “being a professional musician for the summer.” The members will perform two “services” a day in the form of a concert or rehearsal. The orchestra will hold two concerts a week, an incredibly rigorous standard, which, as McCreery puts it, “is meant to whip your butt into shape.”

Her Swarthmore peers and instructors are not surprised at McCreery’s achievement. Conductor of the Swarthmore College Orchestra Andrew Hauze describes Jenna as “a very gifted, dedicated and enthusiastic musician, who has a special affinity for orchestral playing … She has been the Principal Cello of the Swarthmore College Orchestra since her arrival as a first-year student in the fall of 2006, and her natural abilities as a leader have been clear from the start.”

On a more personal note, Sophie Hagen ’10, who has played in a piano trio with McCreery since their freshman year, describes what it was like to see her become increasingly focused on her musicianship.

“Once Jenna decided that this [musicianship] is what she wanted to do with her life, there was no stopping her. It’s been amazing to be friends with her and witness the intensity of her commitment.” Hagen said.

When asked about her admittance into the renowned orchestra, McCreery said, “I’ve heard about the NRO since I was a kid, and it felt great to realize that the NRO standards were the same as the standards I hold myself to.”

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