by Mike Telin
Celebrating your thirtieth anniversary is a big moment — especially if you’re a string quartet. Formed three decades ago in Columbus, Ohio, the Cavani Quartet is also celebrating its twenty-sixth year as Quartet-in-Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music. What began in 1988 as a one-year residency with the support of a grant from Chamber Music America has turned into a long-term relationship. During that quarter-century, the Cavani have established themselves as one of the most successful community residencies in the country.
On Wednesday, March 4 at 8:00 pm in CIM’s Kulas Recital Hall, the Cavani Quartet, Annie Fullard and Mari Sato, violins, Kirsten Docter, viola and Merry Peckham, cello, will celebrate thirty years as a quartet in a free concert, when they will be joined by guest artists Donald Weilerstein, viola and Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, piano. The program includes Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 9 in E-flat, op. 117 and Piano Quintet in g, op. 57 as well as Mendelssohn’s String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat, op. 87.
Mozart began his opera seria, La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), with Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, shortly after he had completed the majority of his comic opera, The Magic Flute. However the two operas are worlds apart from each other. Clemenza’s plot centers around Vitellia, daughter of deposed emperor Vitellio, who wants revenge against Tito and convinces his best friend Sesto to execute him. You can read a full synopsis 
In his 2012 New Music Box feature on composer 
On Wednesday, December 3rd I found myself in an odd situation – I wasn’t scheduled to attend any concerts, yet I had the urge to hear some live classical music. Checking our concert calendar, I discovered two interesting, and best of all, free concerts in University Circle. 
Cleveland Institute of Music faculty members Jason Vieaux, Jaime Laredo, Alan Bise and Bruce Egre and pianist Daniil Trifonov are among the nominees for the 57th Grammy Awards, to be presented in Los Angeles on February 8. 
On Sunday, October 26, The Musical Theater Project will present its dynamic new production, Mary Martin: America’s Sweetheart, in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, in cooperation with CIM. Hosted by Bill Rudman under the musical direction of Nancy Maier, two identical programs at 2:00 and 7:00 pm will feature Ursula Cataan and Sandra Simon, each performing as Mary Martin during different stages of her career. (Note: the 2 pm performance is already sold out.) 
Recitals and chamber music concerts by faculty members at Northeast Ohio conservatories, colleges and universities add to the rich menu of classical music in the region. Usually free, these events begin coming onto the calendar in September. Here’s a quick look at the first performances of the fall.
