Madonna Lee

Violin, TBSO

Born: Seaforth, Ontario

Instrument: Violin

Age you started to study music: Violin at age 7

How long have you been with TBSO: 27 years

What’s on personal playlist: Bach cello suites, Beethoven overtures

Madonna Lee’s start on the violin was a matter of practicality. “I have eight siblings,” Lee, a violinist with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, says. “We all played music. My mom and dad thought if they kept us really busy, we wouldn’t get into trouble; I don’t know if that’s true.”

“I’m the second-youngest in my family,” she says. “Since I had two older siblings who were already playing violin, it seemed like a practical choice.”

Lee has built a long career around the instrument, and she says the lyrical qualities of the instrument and the challenge it offers are big parts of the appeal. “My hands are independent of each other,” she says. “It’s not like the piano, where you’re playing the same thing with both hands. I love the tone, and the register.”

Lee studied at Wilfrid Laurier University before earning a diploma at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She then earned a degree at the University of Toronto, and soon after that, the TBSO was holding auditions in the city. “They had flown an audition panel to Toronto to listen to candidates,” she says. “I was already in the area. I auditioned, got the job, and I said ‘Oh,

I’ll go up there for a year or two.’ And here I am, still here 27 years later.”

Lee says the past two seasons have been challenging ones due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But there were some positives, as well. “Without an audience, musicians, I found, really responded with new levels of creativity and invention,” she says. “I think we’re really witnessing a transformation of the music industry.”

“The world is discovering the need for art and music, and more than ever, people need beauty in their lives,” she says. “I think I speak for all of my colleagues, we are really pumped to get back… we certainly missed it.”