February 10, 2019
By Rebecca Kielar and Narek Sahakian
On Jan. 9, 2019, Lexington High School students, parents and faculty received the tragic news that orchestra director and music teacher Mrs. Janet Haas passed away peacefully at age 59 after a brief battle with brain cancer. Haas taught in all of the Lexington Public Schools for 31 years, becoming a pillar of the Lexington music program and influencing the lives of thousands of students, teachers and families.
When Haas first began teaching at LHS, the school had just one orchestra with only 17 string players. Through Haas’ ambition and dedication, the high school music department now boasts three award winning orchestras of different levels, the largest alone comprising nearly 100 students.
Outside of LPS, Haas was an active member of multiple ensembles including La Donna Musicale and Boston Camerata, performing on both the bass and the viola da gamba. She has also mentored graduate school students and taught private bass lessons.
Rachel Jayson, an orchestra director at LHS who observed Haas as a part of graduate school training, always admired her energy and passion for sharing music with others.
“Janet was that very busy, very fast-moving woman with all of the photocopies going down the hall quickly… At any given time she had 250 students, 300 students, some insane number of students. And then multiply that by all these years,” Jayson said.
Haas was a masterful teacher and mentor, spreading music at every public school in Lexington and educating students of every age group.
“I knew that every time I got to see her teach, I would learn something. And that was true until the last time I saw her teach and even beyond,” Jayson said. “[She taught with] an intense amount of observation and incredibly high expectations from the beginning, and an incredible economy of language — she never said anything that didn’t need to be said.”
Through her enthusiasm, Haas inspired students to find deep appreciation for challenging repertoire.
“In a way, I owe my career to Mrs. Haas. I had been interested in conducting for most of my high school years, and when I was a senior, she was nothing but encouraging to the extent of stepping off the podium and entrusting me with her orchestra,” Aram Demirjian, a former student of Haas from the graduating class of 2004, said. “15 years later, I am a full time orchestra conductor, and it was Mrs. Haas [who] gave me that first opportunity, for which I will always be indebted to her.”
Isabella van der Weide is a senior in the Symphony Orchestra who had Haas as a teacher since middle school.
“Mrs. Haas had a commanding presence as a teacher, but never in a way that made her feel distant or disconnected from the orchestra. Her explanations were always peppered with anecdotes from her daily life, and she had a rapport with a broad range of students,” van der Weide said.
Haas’ humility and generosity extended to her colleagues.
Allen Olsen, a musician and current math teacher at LHS, first met Haas in the Mystic Valley Chamber Orchestra when he was selected as their conductor in 1980.
“[Haas] was kind of shy, but really passionate about music,” Olsen said. “She had a lot of energy that she put into [each orchestra] and got a lot out of the students.”
Jeffrey Leonard, former Director of Performing Arts at LHS, reflected on his long relationship with Haas.
“Janet was a woman of the highest personal integrity. She held herself, her students and her colleagues to the same high standards,” Leonard said. “If a student or colleague were on the receiving end of one of her smiles when she squinted her eyes, and raised and nodded her head, they knew they had accomplished or achieved something special and important.”
Jayson recounted a moment when Haas introduced one of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations at a concert.
“Mrs. Haas said: ‘I want you to imagine something very slow and very beautiful, like a sunrise that takes a long time to arrive and is there for a second, and then it’s gone.’”
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