Meet Joenne Dumitrascu

We recently connected with Joenne Dumitrascu and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joenne, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

I believe that knowledge is power. So I’m always looking to expand my knowledge in all areas of life, but especially in music. I feel like I’ll never stop learning! Knowledge can come from many different places, not necessarily from academia. That being said, I wanted, more for me than anything else, to complete all levels of college degrees, and I’m proud of that achievement. So looking back, in my quest to constantly learn more, I’ve developed a certain level of confidence and self-esteem. And this has been crucial working in such a complex industry.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I split my time between performing, recording, teaching, and producing live concerts. I enjoy having a multifaceted career because I can balance out all aspects of my creativity.

I’ve enjoyed performing small, intimate concerts just as much as performing in big concert halls like Carnegie Hall or La Scala, from classical to jazz to R&B to musical theater. Our job as performers is, for a brief hour or two, to open a portal to a world of fantasy for the audience. And whether that audience is twenty people or two thousand, that’s not what’s important. I joined the Groupmuse Collective recently, which provides a platform for concerts to be made more accessible to a broader audience. Its main focus is facilitating the production of intimate, in-house concerts while another branch of the platform (‘Nights Out’) focuses on partnerships with large arts organizations like the New York Philharmonic, the Met Museum, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Kennedy Center, and so on. I’ve also been producing my own recital series alongside musician colleagues, Connecting Through Sound, which actually started off as a series of solo recitals during the Covid-19 pandemic when, due to social distancing, performing live with other musicians was not possible.

I like being able to perform while also coaching the next generation of musicians. I’m currently Chair at JSE Music Education where I’ve been coaching members of the JSE Ensemble for nearly a decade. The group has performed on ABC’s Good Morning America, the Ellen Show, America’s Got Talent, the White House Tree Lighting Ceremony, and Sesame Street.

I also spend a considerable amount of time in the recording studio, where I do everything from recording work for a large project or an in-home remote recording for a client or a music-related consultation over Zoom. I first got into session work in my late teens working with the Screen Composers’ Guild of Canada, it gave me an opportunity to cross over into the film and TV world.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Curiosity. As I mentioned earlier, knowledge is power. Curiosity is a fundamental soft skill that drives motivation and fosters empathy. It fuels growth, and in this ever-evolving industry, as artists we have to be able to learn and adapt on a whim. Which is why I think it’s also important to be curious about all facets of the industry. Self-promoting has become a very necessary survival skill for artists. Understanding how marketing works and just staying on top of current trends is part of the package to having a successful career.

Perseverance. This industry is notorious for the amount of rejection we face as artists – auditions, pitches, project proposals, you name it. At the end of the day, it’s important that you understand you’re not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. I look at rejection as a way of saying: “I’m not a good fit for this project” or “I’m not the person that they’re looking for.” And move on. If I can get some sort of constructive criticism as feedback, I’m more than happy to take it and learn from it. Or not, depending on the circumstances. But I like to focus on what’s next. Focus on the future and don’t dwell on the past. I know it’s easier said than done, but that’s a motto I like to live by.

Mindfulness. Being an artist is a largely collaborative line of work. You work with everyone from fellow artists to production team members to crew to marketing. You’ll be around many different characters and personalities, going through life only as they know how. Being mindful of your interactions with others – being in the moment and accepting everyone for who they are, being less critical of other people – that’ll help you build bridges. It’s helped me connect with so many people, often times only briefly, sometimes long-term, on a deeper level of understanding.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

A combination of both. Your strengths are your strengths for a reason, use them! But at the same time, don’t limit yourself because you have weaknesses in other areas. I think being well-rounded as an artist is crucial. Emotionally – and intellectually – it helps you connect to your audience better. When I started my doctoral degree, I chose my electives in ethnomusicology and film production, even though my degree’s primary path was music. I wanted to learn more about the connection between music and humanity, its history that goes back many, many years – how music has helped to shape cultures, its purpose in self-identity, it’s use in cultural diplomacy…It’s definitely impacted the way I program music these days.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Wagner-Dobler Photography

Pierre Lidar Photography

Alison Lim Photography

Oh Story Photography

Carnegie Hall

New Music for Strings Festival

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