Holly Jenkins, violin

***Seasons with BSO: 7

***Hometown: House Springs, MO

***Age Started: I started violin when I was 6!

***Favorite Restaurant In Baltimore: I love Woodberry Kitchen.

***Pets: Oh yes. My boyfriend and I have two dogs and two cats. Leo is our silly, chunky tuxedo cat. Sully is our fancy cat, a Ragdoll, who just turned 1. Ellie is my boyfriend’s dog, and I’ve never met a dog with more personality. Ivy is my dog, she is 3. I met her on the picket line during our 2019 lockout when she was being fostered by a colleague’s daughter. I fell in love and adopted her the next day. Yes, we run the Mount Vernon zoo.

***Most Embarrassing Moment Onstage: That’s a hard one, but maybe just going on stage and forgetting my bow, which has for sure happened more than once.

***Earliest Memories at the BSO: It was a whirlwind when I got here, but I just remember feeling like SURELY this can’t be real. I can’t be playing with such an amazing group of people and musicians. The imposter syndrome was very real for a few years!

*** Favorite Composer: That’s like trying to choose a favorite child, but I do really love Janacek, especially his string quartets.

***Concert this Season You’re Most Excited About: Probably the program with Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 with our new music director, Jonathon Heyward. The whole program looks really fun!

***Fondest Musical Memory: These are hard questions! I’ve had so many amazing moments here, but I think my favorite musical memories were made on our tour to the UK where we played at the Proms under Marin Alsop, and most recently soloing with the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and the Columbia Orchestra.

***Favorite Food: I think my favorite meal is my comfort food from childhood: fish sticks, mashed potatoes, and green peas. This was a staple in the Jenkins household that my mom would make because she knew it was my favorite.