Lisa Nielson Interview
I’m Todd L. Burns, and welcome to Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. Click here to subscribe!
Dr. Lisa Nielson is Associate Director at Cleveland Humanities Collaborative, a Mellon-funded pathway program for community college students interested in pursuing a four-year degree in humanities. She’s also an Anisfield-Wolf SAGES Fellow, and the author of Music and Musicians in the Medieval Islamicate World: A Social History.
How did you get to where you are today, professionally?
I started playing music at a young age, first with piano, then violin, and picked up cello while in high school. Cello became my primary instrument, until I heard the viola da gamba. I’d always loved baroque music, but when I heard the gamba and the wealth of music written for the instrument, I eagerly switched. My first two degrees are in cello performance and pedagogy, then I went to start a DMA in cello, only to switch allegiance to the gamba. While working on the DMA, I got interested in medieval music, and worked for a time as a freelance musician. I was pretty burned out on school by then, however, plus some family illnesses, so left school to work full time. Having a full-time gig allowed me to play for fun, and I spent the next 12 years working in the financial services and freelancing.