The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) has announced that guitarist Damian Goggans and cellist Evan Rowland-Seymore will be the first recipients of CIM’s Minority Artist Fellowship (MAF). The program aims to provide opportunities for diverse students between grades 7-9 looking to engage seriously in music. [Read more…]
Credo brings The Cleveland Orchestra, CIM & Oberlin Conservatory together for Hurricane Harvey Benefit September 8
by Daniel Hathaway
Members of The Cleveland Orchestra will join Credo Music, as well as students from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory for “Help After Harvey: an American Red Cross Benefit Concert” on Friday, September 8 at 7:00 pm in Severance Hall. Former Cleveland Orchestra Assistant Conductor and Oberlin graduate James Feddeck will conduct.
All seats are $20 ($10 for students), and all proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross for disaster relief services related to Hurricane Harvey. Reserve seats online or call the Severance Hall Box Office at 216.231.1111.
Executive Director Henry Peyrebrune said that the idea of a benefit concert originated in a Credo staff meeting a week ago. “We thought we should do something for the people of Houston. What if we organized a concert?” [Read more…]
ENCORE Chamber Music to present five concerts at Mixon Hall
by Mike Telin
After the completion of its String Quartet Intensive on Sunday, July 2, ENCORE Chamber Music moved its home base from Gilmour Academy to the Cleveland Institute of Music to begin its three-week-long String and Collaborative Piano Academy. [Read more…]
Cleveland Institute of Music presents July “Lunch and Listen” events
by Samantha Spaccasi
The Cleveland Institute of Music will continue the “Lunch and Listen” series on July 11, 18, and 25. Each concert will take place in CIM’s Mixon Hall at 12:30 pm. [Read more…]
Music and the environment: a conversation with composer Margaret Brouwer about Voice of the Lake
by Samantha Spaccasi
“Lake Erie is in trouble, and getting worse by the year,” reads an August 2014 article in The New York Times that describes the water crisis in Toledo. The disaster spawned another national conversation about the state of the country’s drinking water and environmental pollution. For composer Margaret Brouwer, that conversation, coupled with her love of Lake Erie, spawned an idea — a new piece titled Voice of the Lake.
In a recent phone conversation, Brouwer described her newest work about Lake Erie’s beauty, but also about its serious environmental problems. I reached her at Interlochen, which she called “a great place to compose.” Brouwer explained her process of creating Voice of the Lake. She’s been working on it for over a year and said it’s “3/4 complete.” [Read more…]
Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: five recitals (June 9-11)
Jason Vieaux, guitar
by Daniel Hathaway
The 17th Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival got off to an auspicious start at the Cleveland Institute of Music on Friday evening, June 9 with a beautifully structured recital by Jason Vieaux. Originally scheduled for Mixon Hall, the performance was moved to Kulas Hall because of the demand for tickets. In cases like that, it’s nice to have a second venue right across the lobby. Any doubts about how the sound of a solo guitar would fare in the larger space were immediately put to rest by Vieaux’s sonorous performance of Fernando Sor’s Mes Ennuis at the top of the program. [Read more…]
CIM New Music Symposium: fifteen minutes with George Tsontakis
by Jeremy Reynolds
On Sunday, April 2 at 4:00 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, CIM New Music Ensemble will present a concert including George Tsontakis’ Gravity Plus, selections from Midnight Rain, and Portraits by El Greco, as well as music by Morton Feldman and Stephen Stucky. Tsontakis will be featured in a New Music Symposium on Saturday, April 1 at 1:30 pm, in Studio 113 at CIM. Both events are free and open to the public.
Keith Fitch, head of composition and director of the New Music Ensemble at CIM, said that the school generally hosts three composers each year for guest residencies of a few days. The composers spend time working with the CIM Orchestra and New Music Ensemble, as well as holding masterclasses with the composition students. [Read more…]
CIM Opera: Mozart’s Così fan tutte plays out in another Naples (Mar. 2)
by Daniel Hathaway
Jettisoning powdered wigs in favor of Bermuda shorts and golf clubs, CIM Opera Theater director David Bamberger moved the action in Mozart’s Così fan tutte from 18th-century Naples (Italy) to 1970s Naples (Florida) last Thursday evening in Kulas Hall. That update worked nicely, although Fiordiligi and Dorabella aren’t names you’d be likely to hear on a Gulf Coast beach. [Read more…]
Winter Chamber Music Festival begins on December 1 at CIM
by Mike Telin
As the fall semester come to a close at the Cleveland Institute of Music, it’s once again time for the school’s annual Winter Chamber Music Festival. From December 1 through December 4, students, faculty, and guests will present thirteen concerts featuring over forty unique chamber music compositions.
In addition to performances by woodwind, brass, and percussion ensembles, the school-wide festival of chamber music will feature participants in the Intensive String Quartet and Intensive Duo Seminars, the Advanced Piano Trio Program, and CIM’s Preparatory Friday Night Chamber Music, as well as the Young Artist Programs. As always, the Festival will feature an all-evening Chamber Music Marathon. All performances are free unless otherwise noted.
“The Winter Chamber Music Festival is one of the true musical highlights of the year here in Cleveland,” Cavani Quartet violinist Annie Fullard said via email. [Read more…]
CIM Pierre Boulez Tribute: “Boulez the Modernist II” (Oct. 26)
by Daniel Hathaway
The CIM faculty recital on October 26 in Mixon Hall featured members of Ars Futura and guests in a program of music by Pierre Boulez and others, all related in some way to the career of the late, great French composer and conductor. The performance was the fourth of five concerts created by CIM composition head Keith Fitch to celebrate “The Boulez Legacy,” and the second to explore “Boulez the Modernist.” [Read more…]