Jane Polett

QSOA Executive Director

Jane Polett received her Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance, and Bachelor and Master’s of Science degrees in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Arizona State University. A violin student of Frank Spinosa and Eugene Lombardi, she was concertmaster of ASU’s Symphony Orchestra for five years and often led ASU’s Lyric Opera pit orchestra. Mrs. Polett was a Process Engineer for a 24-hour manufacturing operation in South Carolina for almost a decade. She holds a patent for a machine used in the manufacture of silicon for the electronic device/chip industry. As an engineering manager she was responsible for a team of over 20 engineers & technicians and was the leader of an international engineering team focused on sharing best practices. Jane served on audit teams assuring supplier & internal compliance with ISO9001 quality standards.

During that time, Jane was a violinist for the Greenville (SC) Symphony, Asheville (NC) Symphony, and Brevard (NC) Chamber Orchestra until relocating to Canton, Missouri in 1997. She has served as a violinist for the QSO since that time. Jane won contracts with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra in 1999, and continues to perform with those ensembles and the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra. She is adjunct violin instructor for Culver-Stockton College and in recent years has served as concertmaster for Quincy’s Muddy River Opera Company. 

Jane has managed the QSOA since June 2005, and was named 2008 General Manager of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras. Jane’s husband Tom was a music professor at C-SC and QSO Principal trombonist for over 20 years. The Polett’s three adult children grew up around the QSOA and are former members of the Youth Orchestra and Youth Chorus who chose careers in music and/or teaching.