Jeanna (Braun) Velonis '94 works for three-time Grammy Award-winning Classical Producer of the Year Judith Sherman.
If you've bought an album of contemporary classical music recently, there's a good chance Jeanne (Braun) Velonis '94 worked on it. The recording engineer works for three-time Grammy Award-winning Classical Producer of the Year Judith Sherman.“We usually have at least 25 projects under way at any given time,” says Velonis, who takes on independent producing projects in addition to her already busy schedule.
Velonis estimates that, so far, she has worked on more than 250 albums, including favorites like the Kronos Quartet and Wu Man's recording of Terry Riley's The Cusp of Magic, Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, and John Adams' Son of Chamber Symphony / String Quartet. One recent project, eighth blackbird's Meanwhile, won two Grammys at this February's ceremony.“I have gotten to know some very fantastic music very intimately through my work,” she says.“It's fabulous getting to know music from the inside out in this way.”
In addition to her production work, Velonis, who lives with her husband and three children in Westchester County, N.Y., is a (non-professional) musician. In her mid-20s, she taught herself the accordion, and after being invited by a member of the Kronos Quartet to play in an ensemble performance of In C by Terry Riley at Carnegie Hall in 2009, she began to take lessons.
A music major who had a campus job recording departmental concerts, Velonis took nearly every class the music department offered, even learning a few recording techniques outside the classroom from her instructors.“Haverford prepared me for my career in ways I could not possibly have recognized at the time,” says Velonis, who recently found her diploma wedged between some Beethoven piano sonatas at home.“There are specific pieces that I studied while at Haverford that I have ended up recording. ... More importantly, I was exposed to music of many styles, eras and cultures in class, in departmentally sponsored concerts, in guest lectures and, very importantly, in the Music Library, where I spent many hours at listening stations with scores and headphones and LPs and CDs.”
