He was born in Budapest and she, in Bridgeport, Connecticut.<\/p>\n
An ocean apart, their passion for classical music began at the same young age of 9, when she started piano lessons and he was finally deemed big enough by his parents to play the cello.<\/p>\n
John and Jean Lenard are hoping to share their passion through a donation that will support a series of chamber music concerts at UConn. Jean, a former professor of molecular and cell biology at UConn, and John, are regular patrons of the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n
Music brought them together.<\/p>\n
They met on a fall New England day in the early 60s at Yale University. After a blind date, they began practicing together in the residence halls, and attending concerts. \u201cWe were constantly going to concerts together,\u201d says Jean.<\/p>\n
The courtship continued even after Jean graduated from Yale and went to Paris as a postdoctoral fellow in 1963. John, \u201961 MS, joined Jean in Paris in 1964 where they were married.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we came here, we immediately went to all of the concerts we could,\u201d says Jean. “Jorgensen became a part of our lives.”<\/p>\n
Jean believes some students, especially those in fine arts, may want to go to chamber music concerts but can\u2019t afford it. The gift of free concerts is an incentive for them to go and hear very good chamber music, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the chamber music audience is small, as it relates to the general population, the number of conservatories and young people specializing in classical music has grown,\u201d says John. \u201cClassical music is not pass\u00e9, but the economic structure of these events has changed. To stage this type of event, additional funds are needed.”<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy for Jean and John to explain their attraction to chamber music. \u201cWe like the individual artistry,\u201d says John. \u201cAn orchestra is a different thing. It\u2019s beautiful, but this is very different. It\u2019s an individual interpretation more than the orchestra, which plays the music according to the conductor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The benefits of their gift go beyond offering enjoyment to other “chamber music fanatics,” as the Lenards describe themselves. Because UConn students can attend the chamber music series for free, it gives them the opportunity to, as John puts it, \u201cget acquainted with the richness of classical music.\u201d<\/p>\n
From their introduction at Yale until today, the Lenards\u2019 passion for chamber music \u2013\u00a0and particularly the cello \u2013\u00a0remains strong. Jean began taking lessons after she retired in 2000, a step that caught her husband’s attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so busy establishing myself in engineering that I didn\u2019t play again for a long time, until Jean discovered my cello,\u201d says John. In the first few weeks, she was playing \u201cTwinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.\u201d John proclaimed, \u201cI want my cello back! Get your own!\u201d<\/p>\n
So Jean gave back his cello \u2013 the one she reminds John that she fixed up\u00a0\u2013 and bought her own.<\/p>\n
Their gift to UConn, says John, will ensure that “students aren\u2019t deprived of the benefit of beautiful music.”<\/p>\n
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