Person of Interest: Julie Leven

Photo by Meghan Ireland

As a violinist with the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Baroque, Julie Leven is used to grand venues and seats filled with well-heeled Bostonians, symphony buffs, and critics. On a recent winter evening, though, she brought her violin and her nonprofit group, Shelter Music Boston, to a far less grandiose setting: the Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center for Women in Jamaica Plain. When she raised her instrument and began to play, a group of women, tired from a long day of therapy, went as quiet as any classical audience. “They talk about hope [and] feeling hopeful,” Leven says, “which is remarkable.” That concert was one of the last at the Kitty Dukakis center, which closed in February, but Leven will continue to play at the Pine Street Inn and Rosie’s Place. That’s hope, one note at a time. —Kimya Kavehkar