S P R I N G
2 0 1 5
Does your instrument
have a story? [page 8]
Thoughts from
the President
As we come to the end of another exciting year at the Cleveland
Institute of Music, one marvels at how our students and graduates continue to push
forward, both into the world of further higher education and into the music industry
with a sense of excitement and empowerment.
I have come to see our students and graduates–every one of them–as heroic. Our
students well comprehend the challenges of the artistic life and continue to choose
that life with awareness and consciousness. Why? It is because of what they have
encountered here at CIM.
Now is an important
time for CIM to be
even more widely
heralded and more
amply supported
for all of its accomplishments and for
all that is so special
and unique about
the institution.
2
They have seen around them a faculty that loves what they do, the life that they lead,
cares deeply about their students and that takes great joy both in music-making on
the stage and teaching in the studio. While at CIM, our students have tasted the joys
of living within a community where their musical voice is developed and heard and
where artistic conformity is firmly rejected.
I am hopeful that our local, national and global supporters will wish to reward CIM
ever more generously for the hard work our faculty puts into bringing artists of great
significance onto the world’s stages, into the great body of players that constitutes
The Cleveland Orchestra and into the world of teaching.
We are a very special school. And we can all exult in our alumni’s successes, seen
over and over within all areas of the musical world. As we enter a summer season of
preparation for a new academic year, we welcome this July a new and dedicated Chair
of the Board, Mr. Richard J. Hipple. (You can learn more about Mr. Hipple on page 6).
CIM can proudly take responsibility for so much of what is good in the world of
music. Now is an important time for CIM to be even more widely heralded and
more amply supported for all of its accomplishments and for all that is so special and
unique about the institution.
— Joel Smirnoff
12
Photo: Courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives
The Marriage of Classical and Jazz
The inventor of “Third Stream” engages the CIM community.
ABOVE
CIM Kulas Visiting Artist,
Gunther Schuller, conducting in the
Koussevitzky Music Shed, ca. 1976
(story page 12)
ON THE COVER
Does your instrument have a story?
Hear from CIM faculty on the
histories behind their most prized
possessions (story page 8)
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES
4Noteworthy
2015 Commencement Weekend Events
2015 Commencement Dignitaries
Alum appointed NY Phil concertmaster
New Board Chairman, Richard J. Hipple
Prep. & Continuing Ed. Commencement
Lunch & Listen continues this summer
8 Does your instrument have a story?
NOTES asks faculty about their instruments’ pasts, stories, details and quirks
16Events
Faculty-Fest!
12 The Marriage of Classical and Jazz
Great American composer
Gunther Schuller shares his experiences at CIM this semester
18Development
Donor Profile: Irad and Rebecca Carmi
20 Alumni Snapshot
Grammy winner Jason Vieaux
22Listings
Alumni
Appointments
Prizewinners
Faculty
Students
Preparatory
In Memoriam
S P R I N G 2 0 15
3
Noteworthy
cleveland institute of music
Commencement Weekend Events
2015
Honors Convocation
Friday, May 15, in Mixon Hall, 4pm
Presentation of annual prizes, awards and recognition of alumni dignitaries
"Walking"
Commencement
Saturday, May 16, in Kulas Hall
Conferral of degrees upon graduates and dignitaries
Preparatory Commencement
Sunday, May 17, in Kulas Hall
Recognition of high school seniors who have made a commitment to
musical education
This May, CIM students from the Conservatory as well as Preparatory and
Continuing Education divisions stepped on stage and had their achievements
recognized. During the Conservatory Commencement ceremony Mal Mixon
received an honorary doctorate and was recognized for his 17 accomplishmentfilled years serving as CIM’s chairman of the board. The great American
composer, author, administrator, writer and thought leader Gunther Schuller
addressed the 2015 graduating class in his keynote commencement speech.
Congratulations to both CIM classes of 2015!
Joel speaking
2015 CIM Conservatory Commencement
Photos: Steven Mastroianni
4
Distinguished Alumni Award
Trumpet player Glenn Fischthal (BM ’70, Adelstein) is not only an
internationally renowned musician; he’s also the kind of guy you
can shoot a game of pool with. In fact, when Fischthal played his
last concert with the San Francisco Symphony in 2012, retiring
after 32 years as both associate principal and principal trumpet, he
hurried to the green room during intermission to finish a severalmonth-long pool tournament with his colleagues. This, of course,
was directly following a flawless trumpet solo of the Beatles’
“Penny Lane” from Fischthal in the first half of the program.
Before his tenure with the San Francisco Symphony, a 21-year-old
Fischthal went on tour with The Cleveland Orchestra under the
direction of George Szell and Pierre Boulez. He held positions
with the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra and Kansas City
Philharmonic and served as principal trumpet for the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Santa Fe
Opera Orchestra, San Diego Symphony and Israel Philharmonic.
Fischthal is a founding member of The Bay Brass, a cooperative of artists from some of the
area’s foremost organizations, including the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco
Ballet Orchestra, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Symphony Silicon Valley.
With this group, Fischthal is involved in commissioning new works for brass ensembles.
The Bay Brass’s recording Sound The Bells! was nominated for a Grammy for best small
ensemble performance.
Fischthal’s first day at CIM
Alumni Achievement Award
Oboist Frank Rosenwein (BM ’00, Mack) was drawn to the oboe
when his childhood clarinet teacher told him it was a difficult
instrument to play. It’s safe to say Rosenwein has lived up to the
challenge—he is now finishing up his ninth season as principal oboe
of The Cleveland Orchestra.
Rosenwein graduated in 2000 from CIM, where he studied with
former Cleveland Orchestra principal oboe John Mack. He then
went on to earn a master’s degree from Juilliard. Before his position
with the Orchestra, Rosenwein served as principal oboe of the San
Diego Symphony and the San Diego Opera.
Rosenwein is an avid chamber musician, no matter the venue. He is
a regular at the Marlboro Festival and has performed with the Mainly
Mozart Festival in San Diego, The Seattle Chamber Music Society
and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. But he is also a part of
the unique group called Ensemble HD, which is known for playing
chamber music in nontraditional venues—including dive bars.
In addition to his performance career, Rosenwein holds teaching
positions as head of the oboe department at CIM and at the
Kent/Blossom Music Festival.
Every musician has to have a
spark within—a voice needing to
be heard, a yearning needing
fulfillment—but also needs a place
where those diaphanous things
can be made into solid stuff; the
stuff of discipline, of precision,
of experience and of inspiration.
For me, such a place is CIM.
S P R I N G 2 0 15
5
Noteworthy
Alumnus Appointed Concertmaster
of the New York Philharmonic
Alumnus Frank Huang (BM ’02) is wrapping up his final season as
concertmaster of the Houston Philharmonic before he joins the
New York Philharmonic as its new concertmaster in September.
Huang completed his BM from CIM in 2002 and graduated from
the CIM Young Artists Program in 1997. He was a student of
Donald Weilerstein.
Huang, who began his CIM studies at age 16, told The New York
Times of his recent appointment, “I’m lucky to have had fantastic
teachers who helped me not only improve on the instrument but
helped me develop this love of what music can do, how it can
change your life.”
Huang will replace Glenn Dicterow, who served in the highly
coveted position for 34 years.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist
CIM Names Richard J. Hipple
New Chairman of the Board
CIM announced earlier this year that Richard J. Hipple will now
serve as the new chairman of CIM’s Board of Trustees. His term
begins on July 1, 2015. Mr. Hipple, who is chairman, president
and chief executive officer of Materion Corporation, received
a unanimous vote from CIM’s Board of Trustees during its
March 10 meeting.
CIM’s current board chairman, A. Malachi Mixon III, announced
his retirement last fall after serving more than 17 years; he will
complete his term on June 30, 2015.
A member of the CIM Board of Trustees since July 2010, Mr. Hipple
currently serves on the Board’s investment and audit committees.
“Mr. Hipple has provided a wealth of thoughtful and conscientious
leadership as a member of our Board, qualities that will serve us
well as he assumes the role of chairman. We are grateful for his
willingness to serve in a new and heightened capacity and view
it as a strong endorsement of CIM within the greater Cleveland
community. We look forward with great anticipation to his tenure,”
said Joel Smirnoff, president and CEO of the Cleveland Institute
of Music.
6
Mr. Hipple has been with Materion since 2001 and has served as
chairman, president and CEO since 2006. Materion, an international
company that specializes in manufacturing high-performance
engineered materials, is headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.
Prior to Materion, Mr. Hipple was with LTV Steel for 26 years,
where he also served as president. Mr. Hipple also serves as an
outside director at Key Corp and Ferro Corporation.
Fourth Annual
Preparatory Commencement
The Preparatory and Continuing Education Division honored
graduates, outstanding seniors and excellent faculty in a private
commencement ceremony on May 17. Trustee Carl E. Baldassarre
served as master of ceremony.
Amy Nathan, author of The Young Musician’s Survival Guide and
The Music Parent’s Survival Guide, gave the commencement
address, sharing advice and firsthand experience about parenting
aspiring musicians. A parent of a musician in her own right, Nathan
detailed the challenges and joys of navigating the musical education
landscape from both parent and young musician perspectives.
Faculty members Judson Billings and Kimberly Meier-Sims were
both awarded Excellence in Teaching Awards. An alumnus who
received both his BM and MM from CIM, Billings was chosen
by nomination for his outstanding contributions to the piano
department for more than 37 years. Meier-Sims, a highly-regarded
teacher-trainer of Suzuki violin, was nominated for her leadership
of and contributions to the Sato Center for Suzuki Studies.
Student Megan Lee was awarded the coveted Outstanding
Senior Award. Lee distinguished herself throughout her tenure
at CIM by earning outstanding awards and achievements both
musically and academically, and by her many contributions to
the community at large through fund-raising for various causes,
bringing music to schools, senior communities and other such
venues. This year Lee was the Music of the Western Reserve’s
Featured Young Artist.
2015
If It’s Summer, It’s Time for
Lunch & Listen
Join us for CIM’s annual summer musical treats, Lunch & Listen
Recitals. Each summer, CIM alumni and their special guests offer
free lunch-hour concerts every Tuesday in July in CIM’s beautiful
Mixon Hall.
This year’s schedule includes:
July 7: Julia Russ, piano
July 14: Linda White and Bob Gruca, flute and guitar
July 21: Ariel Clayton and Classical Revolution Cleveland
2015 Preparatory Commencement
Photos: Steven Mastroianni
Concerts begin at 12:30pm; the patio will be open beginning at
11am for guests to bring a bag lunch and enjoy time with friends.
Free beverages are provided.
For more information, contact Char Rapoport Nance,
Development Officer, Alumni and Parent Relations, 216.795.3169,
[email protected].
July 28:Madeline Lucas Tolliver with various chamber
music ensembles
S P R I N G 2 0 15
7
Does your
instrument have
a story?
We asked CIM faculty to share
the histories, details and quirks behind
their most prized possessions
They sing, they dance, they inspire and
they captivate. They are inanimate, but
have stories and histories that predate
many of their owners. They are the
lifeblood of musicians, manipulated to
bring some of the most inspiring sounds
to life. They are musical instruments.
And many of CIM’s faculty members play
instruments that contain rich histories,
storied pasts, interesting parts and
delightful quirks.
The Margo
Merry Peckham (cello, Cavani Quartet)
My cello was one of the few things a family took with them when
they escaped the Nazis in, I believe, Austria. They had the clothes on
their backs, some jewelry and this cello. The player of the cello was
a young, teenaged woman named Margo. Margo's family escaped to
London, and she later got married and moved to Denver. She played
for a while in the community orchestra and then put the cello in a
closet and taught piano to many of the children in the neighborhood.
When she passed, her daughter acquired the cello, which had
basically been sitting in a closet for about 40 years, and had the
instrument restored. Margo's daughter and son-in-law, Yvonne and
Richard Burry, were on the board of the Columbus Chamber Music
Society. They happened to get in touch with Annie Fullard from
my quartet because Annie had borrowed a Fine instrument and
they wanted to find out how you loan an instrument – do you have
a contract, and how do you handle insurance? Annie helped the
Burrys and then asked them if they had a cellist in mind. They said
they wanted to give it to a professional because they wanted it to
be cared for. Annie said she knew a cellist who might be interested.
So the Burrys contacted me! I just went to their house, had dinner,
played the cello, compared it to mine and told them what I liked
about it. I didn’t realize it was an audition. A week later they contacted
me and asked if I would like to use it for a few years. And that was
almost ten years ago.
The Guadagnini Worth the Wait
Brian Thornton (cello)
I have a cello that was made by J B Guadagnini in 1771 in Turin,
Italy. It was once owned by the cellist David Popper when he
performed with the Vienna Philharmonic from October 1, 1865,
until September 30, 1868.
That means he would’ve been performing on this cello with the
orchestra when Verdi premiered his Requiem and Aida there. Yes, it
does seem like the Popper études are easier to play on this cello!
When I first got into the Cleveland Orchestra I looked for a better
cello. We went on tour and stopped in Zurich. I knew that a short
train ride away from Zurich was the only privately held stash of
antique string instruments that could be rented by musicians for
long periods of time, and that the rental cost would go toward the
purchase of the instrument. No other such place existed at that time
in 1994. I went and played great cellos for eight hours a day for two
days, and in the end I decided I loved a Guadagnini cello they had in
the store. It had a beautiful sound with many colors and was small and
easy to get around on. I tried in vain to rent this cello, but it was not
to be. I ended up purchasing my first cello with my own money: an
Ornati cello made in Milan in 1926. However, ever since I have loved
Guadagninis for their beautiful, powerful sound and small frames.
I saw this cello for the first time in pieces in the shop of Christophe
Landon in New York City about three years ago. It was being
repaired after some hard use. It already looked gorgeous and I was
able to purchase the cello before it was put together using cellos I
owned and a deposit. It took two years to put together and now
the instrument is incredible and getting better every day. It has
become a really beautiful instrument and is a historically significant
instrument that I am lucky to perform on forever.
Now I call the Burrys my cello angels. They come and visit me every
summer on Shelter Island. The cello is called “the Margo” as a tribute
to Yvonne's mother. Although I feel that due to the deep, masculine
tone, the cello is male – its name is “Margo.” So that’s the story.
S P R I N G 2 0 15
9
The White Upright
Tanya Kapinos (piano)
When I came to Cleveland from Russia 25 years ago, I didn’t have
any money to buy a piano. Hebrew Free Loan Association of
Cleveland loaned me the money that enabled me to buy my upright.
I’m still using and enjoying it! The piano is a white upright named
Schumann (Korean, I believe). Honestly, I don't remember all the
details about the loan–it was so long ago, probably more than 20
years–except one: it was a free loan, no interest. Hebrew Free Loan
Association helps people in need, and I was a single mother at the
time with very little money, recently from Russia. I'm very grateful to
the Association; the loan enabled me to start my piano studio.
The Shape Shifter
Jeffrey Irvine (viola)
I play a modern viola made in 1983 by Hiroshi Iizuka. He's a
Japanese maker who was trained in Mittenwald, Germany, and
lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My viola has an unusual shape:
both shoulders are cut down from the normal viola shape, allowing
easier access to high positions. Iizuka makes three models of violas:
a standard model, my model with the cut-down shoulders and a
model with normal shoulders but wide lower bouts. There are
a couple of other makers who make a model similar to mine.
Deborah Price of the Columbus Chamber Music Connection plays
one of these similar models by a different maker. Iizuka makes violins,
violas and cellos, but he is most widely known for his violas. Other
prominent violists who play or have played Iizukas are Michael Tree
and the late Emmanuel Vardi.
Jeffrey Irvine’s viola
10
The Landolfi Look-Alike
Kirsten Docter (viola, Cavani Quartet)
I don’t know much about my viola, but it’s falsely labeled as a
Carlo Landolfi made in Milan.
I do know it’s not that–if it was, the price tag would’ve had an extra
0 at the end, before the .00! It used to be common practice to put
false labels on instruments, and when I bought it, about 20 years
ago, the man I bought it from didn’t even pretend it was a Landolfi.
We do know that it was probably from Milan from the late 1700s.
If you want to get someone to tell you how much your instrument
is worth, they often charge 10 percent of the value for the appraisal,
which would be a lot of money. And you would have to find
someone who you really trust. I bought my viola from a man in
Iowa who co-owned it with someone else, but it was mostly sitting
in a drawer and not being played. You can usually tell the date and
location of the instrument from things such as how the f-holes are
carved or by the shape of the scroll.
The Oldies but Goodies
The Chameleon
Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson (violin and cello)
Carl Topilow (director, Orchestral Program)
I [Jamie] have two violins that I play. I alternate between a Nicola Amati
that was made in 1683 and a Domenico Montagnana made in 1738.
The Montagnana was played on for many years by Josef Roisman, who
was first violin of the Budapest String quartet, which was the string
quartet from the 1930s to the 1960s. The Amati at one time belonged
to Niccolò Paganini, who bought it for Spagnoletti, the concertmaster
of Paganini’s orchestra. According to the papers I have, the top of the
violin was taken off for repairs and “Spagnoletti” was seen written on
the inside corner of the instrument.
I saw a red clarinet in a music store window in Munich, Germany,
and thought that it would be nice to have one. I started with a red
clarinet (there’s the famous Red Violin, why not the Red Clarinet?),
and then purchased a green, a blue and a white clarinet; all were
bought at Educators Music in Lakewood. These clarinets are made
of plastic, and cost about $350 each.
Sharon plays a Stradivarius cello made in 1717 known as the “Fleming
Strad.” This was owned and played by Amaryllis Fleming, the British
cello performer and teacher and sister of Ian Fleming, the author of
the James Bond series. She’s been playing it for about five years.
Sharon and I both also have modern instruments. We use them
quite a lot but mostly like to loan them out to students who don’t
have nice instruments or to those playing in recitals. Most of our
modern instruments are on loan with students at the moment.
I’ve used these clarinets for various occasions with the Cleveland Pops
and as guest conductor: the red clarinet for “My Funny Valentine,”
the blue clarinet for “Stardust,” the green clarinet for “Danny Boy.”
I’m also able to interchange parts, so the red and white clarinet works
for Leroy Anderson’s “Clarinet Candy”; the red, white and blue
clarinet for “Stars and Stripes” when I join the piccolos for the famous
obbligato; the green, white and red clarinet for my “Italian Medley”;
the red and green clarinet for Christmas; and the blue and white
clarinet for Hanukkah. These clarinets have become my trademark,
in a sense, and if I happen to play my wooden black clarinet, which
of course is a better instrument, there is always an audience member
who wants to know why I didn’t play my red clarinet.
Talk about adding on the zeros!
Take a look at some of the most expensive classical music
instruments in the world:
1.Antonio Stradivari “MacDonald” viola:
$45,000,000
(Auction price)
2.Antonio Stradivari “The Messiah” violin:
$20,000,000 3.Guarneri del Gesù “Vieuxtemps” violin:
$18,000,000
(Owner: private owner)
4.Antonio Stradivari “Lady Blunt” violin:
$16,000,000
Watch David Aaron Carpenter play Suite No. 3 in C by
Johann Sebastian Bach on the world’s most expensive
instrument, the Antonio Stradivari “MacDonald” viola
on YouTube: youtu.be/Xe11Pp1g39I
(Estimated value, on display at the
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
(Owner: Nippon Music Foundation)
5.Guarneri del Gesù “Ex-Kochanski” violin
$10,000,000
(Owner: unknown)
S P R I N G 2 0 15
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THE MARRIAGE OF
CLASSICAL AND JAZZ
The inventor of “Third Stream”
engages the CIM community
He’s worked with Miles Davis and
Dizzy Gillespie, won two Grammy
awards in classical music categories
and received a Pulitzer Prize for
composition, so it was clear to see
why President Joel Smirnoff introduced
Gunther Schuller at CIM as one of
the greatest musicians our country
has produced.
12
Gunther Schuller with a group of
composition fellows at Tanglewood,
ca. 1963.
Photo: Peter Weissenstein, Whitestone Photo
Schuller was this year’s Kulas Visiting Artist,
which afforded the CIM community three
visits by the musical icon that culminated
in his commencement address to CIM
graduates in May. During his visits, the
multi-talented Schuller was busy. He held
master classes with horn students, offering
advice that ranged from “there’s no wa wa
in horn playing” to the importance of all
eight dynamics; he dazzled composition
students with stories of watching
Duke Ellington expertly noodle away on
the piano while scratching down bits of music
in a jazz club after hours; and he worked
alongside master guest conductor Kimbo
Ishii as he led the CIM Orchestra in playing
Schuller’s “Seven Studies on Themes of
Paul Klee (1959)” during its CIM@Home
concert in April.
JAZZ AS GOOD AS BEETHOVEN
The now 89-year-old Schuller grew up in
an era in the United States when both jazz
and classical music were booming–both of
which not only shaped him as a musician
but also embody his legacy. He lived and
worked successfully in New York City, but
you won’t find a list of degrees and alma
maters attached to his name. Schuller was
completely self-taught (he restricted himself
to just four hours of sleep a night for most
of his career), and he says when people
asked him who his teachers were he simply
replied, “studying scores, listening to recordings and playing in an orchestra.”
And play he did. By the age of 17, he was
the first horn chair for the Cincinnati
Symphony and at age 19, he was the first
horn chair for the Metropolitan Opera,
where he remained for 15 years. However,
classical music wasn’t his only passion. While
performing with the Metropolitan Opera,
he was simultaneously playing French horn
on Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool album.
Schuller recalled speaking with his father (a
violinist in the New York Philharmonic) one
morning many years ago. “I said, ‘you know,
Pop, I heard some incredible [jazz] music
last night and it was as good as Beethoven.’
My father almost had a heart attack!”
Schuller said with a laugh, explaining that
his father had thought his son would
abandon classical music. That, as it turned
out, was far from the case.
THIRD STREAM
“At that time there were two forms of
music,” said Schuller. “There was jazz and
there was classical. Half of Americans listened to jazz and the other half listened to
classical. And they didn’t talk to each other.”
Schuller, however, worked with both styles,
inventing Third Stream—the marriage of
jazz and classical music; two main streams
combining to make a third. “Of course I
was vilified on both sides for saying that,”
he recounted. “They said you can’t mix oil
and water.”
But Schuller did mix the two, performing
and composing music inspired by both,
seemingly dissimilar musical genres. It was
free-flowing jazz meets the rigor and
structure of classical. Eventually the two
genres realized they could work together.
In an op-ed Schuller wrote for The New
York Times in 1959, he explained, “…if a
Bartók, by virtue of his musical integrity and
intimate knowledge of Balkan folk sources,
was able to integrate these elements with
his own musical concepts, thus creating
some of the most highly respected works
of twentieth-century music, it would seem
conceivable that in the near future some
gifted composer may achieve a similar
integration using jazz elements.” He was
defending Third Stream to the “purists,” as
he called them, who sat on both sides of
the musical spectrum.
However, Schuller had many fans and
despite their avant-garde nature, his pieces
were beginning to be heard all over the
world, including multiple performances of
his work at Carnegie Hall. In 1959, New
York Times music critic Eric Salzman wrote
S P R I N G 2 0 15
13
of one of Schuller’s pieces performed at the Empire State Music
Festival, “Although the written-out parts are based on twelve-tone
technique and the twelve-bar blues form is extended to thirteen
bars, the clean scoring and forward rhythmic motion blended well
with the ‘cool’ improvising of the jazz musicians.”
And in 1962 Salzman again commented, “Schuller’s various musical
activities are not unconnected with his creative work. In his music
one can hear the instrumental know-how of the wind player; the
idiomatic and finely calculated orchestral sensibility of the conductor;
the technical master and brilliant eclecticism of the modern music
expert; and the controlled freedom and invention of a creative
personality that knows and understands jazz.”
While Schuller was advocating for his work, he was also teaching,
completing a stint at the Manhattan School and then holding the
position of professor of composition at Yale University. In 1963 he
began teaching at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood and
eventually served as its artistic director. From 1967 to 1977 he
served as the president of the New England Conservatory where,
in a historic move, he established a jazz program.
THE MASTER CLASS MASTER
This past semester CIM students and faculty were able to hear and
learn from the legend himself. The first event: a horn master class
with one of the greats at the helm.
Schuller works with horn students Nathan Peebles and Alexander Rise (above)
and Joanna Ying-Ho Huang (below) in Mixon Hall
In a bright Mixon hall, Schuller waited on stage, slightly offset
from student Katie Clement, who played the first movement of
Schuller’s “Intermezzo: Homage à Frederick Delius,” written in
1942. When she finished the piece, Schuller clapped and smiled.
Then he launched right in. “The horn,” he said “is one of the great
lyric instruments. It’s also one of the great heroic instruments.” He
gave Clement advice on the dynamics of the piece, recalling at the
drop of a hat (remember, he wrote this piece 73 years ago) that he’d
specified piano dynamics in one section he thought could be played
even softer. “The horn is one of the most difficult instruments
Photos: Leigh-Anne Dennison
Gunther SCHULLER Timeline
1925
November 22, 1925
Born
1943-1945
Principal horn in the
Cincinnati Symphony
1945-1959
Horn player in the
Metropolitan Opera
Photo: Courtesy of the
New England Conservatory
14
1949-1950
French horn player on
Miles Davis’s Birth
of the Cool recording
1950-1964
Taught at the Manhattan School
of Music
1964-1967
Professor of composition at Yale
University
1967
1967-1977
President of the New England
Conservatory
1968
Wrote Early Jazz: Its Roots and
Musical Development
because from middle C up, it’s harder and harder to play soft.
It wants to be loud,” he said. “From middle C down, it loses
its projection.”
barrier, and to fighting against pigeonholing and categorizing music
and musicians.” For Schuller, he’s satisfied to “perform all good
music equally happy.”
When the next horn student, sophomore Joanna Ying-Ho Huang,
stepped onto the stage, Schuller advocated the importance of
hearing a note in one’s head before it’s played. He even asked
Huang to sing a few bars. “Singing is the secret to horn playing,”
said Schuller.
To listen to the CIM Orchestra’s performance of Schuller’s “Seven Studies
on Themes of Paul Klee (1959),” visit livestream.com/cim/CIMOapr8
Huang was grateful for the chance to play and receive feedback
from one of the great horn players of our time. “Not only did I
learn how to play horn with more air support, I also learned how
to play horn more as a vocalist,” Huang said.
The third performance was a duet by freshman Nathan Peebles
and senior Alexander Rise. “It was a privilege to work with
Mr. Schuller,” said Peebles. “It’s not every day that I am able to
perform a piece for a world-renowned composer/musician/
philanthropist. What makes it even more astonishing is that he
coached us on his very own composition. Mr. Schuller was able to
provide insight into the art of horn playing with his experience as
a distinguished professional for many years.”
BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS
Even while he was performing, Schuller always had composing on
his mind. He ate up good music with fervor, continually listening
and absorbing. “I was a horn player, sitting in the orchestra as a
composer. When you play all these great masterpieces by Mozart
and Verdi and Wagner and Strauss, my god! I really studied all that
while I was playing,” he recounted. On top of all of that orchestra
listening, Schuller was also an avid record collector and still has his
collection of more than three thousand 78 recordings. This hunger
for music and openness to new styles that he so eloquently fused
with classical made him a great composer of his time. “Why can’t
we be in love with all good music, whether it comes from a kind
of popular or folk source, or from the highest Mount Olympus of
music?” Schuller asked in a 1977 New York Times article. “Let it just
be said that I’ve devoted my whole adult life to breaking down that
1969-1984
Artistic director of the
Berkshire Music Center
at Tanglewood
1974
Won Grammy Award for Best Chamber
Music Performance for his recording,
Scott Joplin: The Red Back Book
Gunther Schuller giving the 2015 Commencement Address at CIM
Photo: Steven Mastroianni
1976
Won the Grammy Award for Best Album
Notes for Footlifters
1991
Awarded the MacArthur Foundation
“Genius” Award
1994
Awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his piece
Of Reminiscenes and Reflections
1997
Wrote the follow-up to Early Jazz, Swing
Era: the Development of Jazz, 1930-1945,
as well as The Compleat Conductor
2015
Cleveland Institute of Music
Kulas Visiting Artist
2015
Awarded MacDowell Medal
S P R I N G 2 0 15
15
Events
Faculty Fest!
CIM faculty members are attending music festivals all over globe this summer.
Be sure to check them out, if your summer plans take you nearby!
Advanced Stanford Suzuki Institute
at Stanford
Palo Alto, CA
Stephen Sims (violin, Sato Center for
Suzuki Studies)
August 9-13
Chamber Music Festival of Lexington
Lexington, KY
Jason Vieaux (head, guitar)
August 26-30
Kimberly Meier-Sims (director, Sato Center
for Suzuki Studies)
August 9-13
Changsha Guitar Festival
Changsha, China
Jason Vieaux (head, guitar)
July 27-August 1
Aspen Music Festival
Aspen, CO
Frank Rosenwein (head, oboe)
July 19-31
Chopin Symposium
Boston, MA
Antonio Pompa-Baldi (piano)
June 26-28
Atlanta Suzuki Institute
Roswell, GA
Kimberly Meier-Sims (director, Sato Center
for Suzuki Studies)
June 20-26
CIM's Summer Sonata Program
Cleveland, OH
Sean Schulze (chair, Preparatory
Division Piano)
June 14-20
Bard Music Festival
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Jason Vieaux (head, guitar)
August 7-9
Bowdoin International Music Festival
at Bowdoin College
Brunswick, ME
Jeffrey Irvine (viola)
July 18-August 7
Breckenridge Music Festival
Breckenridge, CO
Jason Vieaux (head, guitar)
June 25-27
Britt Festival Orchestra
Jacksonville, OR
Ida Mercer (cello)
July 27-August 15
Chamber Music Connection
Columbus, OH
Merry Peckham (cello, Cavani String Quartet)
May 15-16
16
Antonio Pompa-Baldi (piano)
June 14-20
CIM Young Composers Program
Cleveland, OH
Keith Fitch (head, composition)
June 14-20
Classical Singer National Convention
Chicago, IL
Dean Southern (voice)
May 22-24
Colorado College Summer
Music Festival
Colorado Springs, CO
Steven Rose (violin)
June 7-17
Eastern Music Festival
Greensboro, NC
Jason Vieaux (head, guitar)
July 15-20
Grand Teton Summer Festival
Jackson Hole, WY
Richard Weiner (co-head, timpani and
percussion)
July 6-20
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival
Southfield, MI
Sharon Robinson (cello)
June 20, 21 and 23
Jaime Laredo (violin)
June 20, 21 and 23
Heifetz International Music Institute
Staunton, VA
Jeffrey Irvine (viola)
June 27- July 11
Honest Brook Music Festival
Meredith, NY
Sharon Robinson (cello)
August 8-9
Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle
at Bard College
Red Hook, NY
Sharon Robinson (cello)
June 27
Jaime Laredo (violin)
June 27
Interlochen Viola Workshop
Interlochen, MI
Jeffrey Irvine (viola)
June 22-23
Ithaca Suzuki Institute
Ithaca, NY
Kimberly Meier-Sims (director, Sato Center
for Suzuki Studies)
June 28-July 10
Stephen Sims (violin, Sato Center for
Suzuki Studies)
June 28-July 10
Karen Tuttle Coordination
Conference at NYU
New York, NY
Jeffrey Irvine (viola)
June 12-14
Kent/Blossom Music Festival
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Steven Rose (violin)
Last week of June and second week of July
Kingston Music Festival
Kingston, RI
Jason Vieaux (head, guitar)
July 21-26
Napa Music Festival
Napa, CA
Dean Southern (voice)
June 20-July 13
Lake Champlain Chamber Music
Festival
Colchester, VT
Frank Rosenwein (head, oboe)
August 22-30
National Orchestral Institute
College Park, MD
Steven Rose (violin)
June 22-24
Lev Aronson Legacy Music Festival,
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX
Brian Thornton (cello)
June 6-11
National Repertory Orchestra
Summer Festival
Breckenridge, CO
Carl Topilow (director, Orchestral Program)
June 13-July 31
Madeline Island Music Camp
Madeline Island, WI
Kirsten Docter (viola, Cavani String Quartet)
June 14-July 27
Oregon Suzuki Institute at George
Fox University
Newberg, OR
Adam Whiting (staff accompanist)
June 27-July 3
Martha Argerich Project–
Lugano Festival
Lugano, Switzerland
Sergei Babayan (piano)
June 27-29
The Perlman Music Program
Chamber Music Workshop
Shelter Island, NY
Merry Peckham (cello, Cavani String Quartet)
June 7-20
The Masterworks Festival
Winona Lake, IN
Lisa Boyko (viola)
June 14-July 12
Mimir Chamber Music Festival
Ft. Worth, TX
Steven Rose (violin)
June 29-July 6
Mimir Chamber Music Festival
Melbourne
Melbourn, Australia
Steven Rose (violin)
August 23-September 5
Music Academy of the West Summer
School & Festival
Santa Barbara, CA
Peter Salaff (director, String and Piano
Chamber Music)
June 15-August 8
Peter Salaff (director, String and Piano
Chamber Music)
June 7-20
The Perlman Music Program
Summer Music School
Shelter Island, NY
Merry Peckham (cello, Cavani String Quartet)
July 3-August 14
Kirsten Docter (viola, Cavani String Quartet)
July 3-August 14
Seattle Chamber Music Festival
Seattle, WA
Steven Rose (violin)
July 26-August 1
Steamboat Springs Strings
Music Festival
Steamboat Springs, CO
Frank Rosenwein (head, oboe)
August 6-9
Steamboat Springs Strings
Music Festival
Steamboat Springs, CO
Jason Vieaux (head, guitar)
August 3-5
Summer Piano Camp at Charleston
Southern University's Horton School
of Music
Charleston, SC
Grace Huang (piano, Preparatory and
Continuing Education)
June 22-27
Todi International Music
Masters Festival
Todi, Italy
Antonio Pompa-Baldi (piano)
July 27-August 9
University of South Carolina
Southeastern Piano Festival
Columbia, SC
Sergei Babayan (piano)
June 14
Western Reserve Chamber Festival
Hudson, OH
Rachel Huch (violin)
July 27-31
Young Artist Program in Composition,
Rocky Ridge Music Center
Estes Park, CO
Keith Fitch (head, composition)
June 23-July 26
Young Artist World Piano Festival
St. Paul, MN
Sean Schulze (chair, Preparatory Division Piano)
July 8-18
For more information and a
complete listing of faculty
concerts, events and summer
plans, please visit
cim.edu/faculty/summer
S P R I N G 2 0 15
17
DONOR PROFILE:
Rebecca and
Irad Carmi
One Scholarship Inspires Another
They met in the early eighties in Theory 201 and today, they’ve
funded a scholarship for an Israeli student to study at CIM. Irad
and Rebecca Carmi were 22 when they came to CIM, Irad from
Israel on a scholarship and Rebecca with an undergraduate degree
in comparative literature from Brown University already under her
belt. Irad was a flutist, drawn to the school by Jeff Khaner, the thenprincipal flutist in The Cleveland Orchestra; Rebecca, a Cleveland
native, enrolled after urging by George Vassos, the head of the
CIM voice department at the time.
“It was one of the coldest winters on record until this one, my first
year at CIM,” remembered Irad. “In Israel there are no winters by
Cleveland standards!”
After graduating,
Rebecca and Irad
both shared success
as performers.
Irad performed as
soloist at Carnegie
Hall with the New
Jersey Symphony
Orchestra. He
also soloed
with the Garden
State Chamber
Orchestra, the Israel
Sinfonietta and the
Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra. Irad held principal flute positions with the Israel
Sinfonietta, the Israel Pops Orchestra, the AIMS Festival Orchestra,
the Harrisburg Symphony and the School of American Ballet
Orchestra in Lincoln Center. Rebecca gave recitals throughout the
United States, Israel and Europe at the Jerusalem Theater with the
Jerusalem Symphony, at Carnegie Hall, the Warsaw Opera House
and with the American Opera Center in Los Angeles.
By the mid ’90s, Irad and Rebecca were back in the United States,
this time on the west coast. Rebecca had a job in Southern California
only half a mile from a local college. Irad was freelancing at the
time. “We had the catalog for the college at the house and I said,
‘why don’t you look through it and see what you’re interested
in,” said Rebecca. Irad browsed the pages and the courses in
18
Rebecca and Irad Carmi
computer programming caught his eye. “I had heard that computer
programming was one of the only professions that you could just do.
You don’t have to go to school for it,” said Irad. “So the plan was to
take a course and see what computer programming was all about. If
it works out, maybe I’ll do something with it.”
His class went well and it turned out Irad had a real knack for the
work. “After music, anything is easy!” he joked. After a few more
classes he got his first job and from there moved from company to
company, from coast to coast, in various computer programming
positions. After a company he worked for went under in the aftermath
of 9/11 Irad found himself unemployed. He and his business partner
decided to start their own company, using his and Rebecca’s home
equity to fund it. They started TOA Technologies, a company that
works in cloud-computing services. By 2012, sales reached upwards
of $41 million and the company was operating in more than 20
countries. This past fall, Irad sold TOA Technologies to the tech
giant Oracle. “The deal went through in the fall and the first thing
we said was, ‘where can we give?’” Rebecca said. “We took an
inventory of our lives, and CIM was one of the first on our list. It was
clear that CIM bringing Irad here was transformative.”
Although Irad turned to a career of software instead of music, every
year for his birthday Rebecca hires an accompanist and throws a
party featuring him. “That way he has to prepare a recital every
year,” she said.
The Rebecca and Irad Carmi Scholarship was created so the Carmis
could give an Israeli student the type of opportunity Irad was
afforded all those years ago. The scholarship will go into effect for
the fall of 2015.
CIM has many different ways to provide support for programs in the
Conservatory and the Preparatory and Continuing Education Divisions.
For more information, visit cim.edu/donatenow.
Development
Time is
Running
Out!
We’re conducting
a challenge!
Any new or increased donation you make to the CIM
2014-15 Annual Fund can be matched dollar-for-dollar by
a special matching challenge offered by a generous group
of CIM leaders. Up to $50,000 will be matched – but
only if you make your gift before the June 30 deadline!
JUNE
30
You can DOUBLE your support for CIM students,
free concerts and community programs by making a
donation today!
To learn more about the matching challenge, or to make
a gift online, visit cim.edu/challenge.
To donate by phone, please call 216.795.3118. Or,
mail your donation to:
Cleveland Institute of Music
Attn: Development Office
11021 East Boulevard
Cleveland, OH 44106
Donate now at cim.edu/challenge
S P R I N G 2 0 15
19
Alumni Snapshot
Jason
Vieaux
When
walked
the red
carpet at this year’s Grammy
Awards, he estimated he had
about a five percent chance
of winning; or, as he put it, his
chances were “a little better
than a roulette wheel.”
Photo: GMD Three
Vieaux is head of the guitar department at CIM and performs and teaches around the world. He’s been featured at every major guitar series
in North America and many abroad; he’s soloed with nearly 100 orchestras, including Cleveland, Houston, Toronto and San Diego; he’s recorded
12 albums; and in 2014, his recording “Zapateado” was named one of NPR’s 50 favorite songs of the year. When Vieaux received that accolade
he said, “it may be the only time I'm on a list with Beyoncé, Pharrell and Jack White.” Then 2015 came along, and with it, a new list.
“Just happy to be nominated”
First came the nomination, in early December. “I was taking a nap in Melbourne, Florida,” Vieaux remembers. “I was getting ready for a concert
with the Escher Quartet for the chamber music society there, and I woke up to all these texts and Twitter notifications on my phone. At first
I thought something bad had happened!” But soon the realization began to sink in. “We weren’t really expecting it because we’d submitted so
many times before. By that point I had kind of given up on the Grammys. So it was a real, very pleasant shock.” The shock, of course, was that
Vieaux’s album Play on the Azica Records label, was just nominated for a Grammy for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. “When I saw who all
the other nominees were, I thought, ‘OK, we’ll enjoy the nomination.’ It was my first time so we were just happy to be nominated.”
Fast-forward to February and Vieaux is on the red carpet at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. “I wasn’t really nervous about
it,” says Vieaux. “We were just going for the experience to walk the red carpet and to take it all in. It was a very different experience from
the relatively unglamorous life of touring classical musicians!” Then the categories were read, and winner after winner stepped onto the stage,
thanking their friends and families. “And now, Category 78, best solo instrumental classical,” boomed the announcer. “That’s when I became,
sort of, focused,” Vieaux says. “When they said Play, it was just like a shot of adrenaline. I think I ran up to the stage!”
20
For Vieaux, more than anything in that moment, he felt an immense
amount of gratitude. He muses about his predictions of having a slim
chance of winning, but in the end it’s really not left up to chance. “It
really just comes down to votes,” says Vieaux. “It meant that all the
members of the academy, comprising some 13,000 artists, gave it the
most votes.”
A Classical Musician from the Start
Vieaux was given his first guitar at the age of five. His mother bought
it for him after he raided his parents’ record collection filled with
R&B, soul and modern jazz music. But despite this early exposure to
iconic guitarists whose images were splashed across their album covers,
Vieaux began taking classical music lessons on the guitar.
It was after the Buffalo Guitar Quartet visited his school when he
was seven years old that Vieaux’s classical training began. “They were
doing an outreach program at my school and my mother asked
Jeremy Sparks, one of the founding members of the Quartet, if he
would come out to our house and give private lessons,” explains
Vieaux. “My lessons on the guitar actually started out as classical
music. I came to know classical music through the guitar repertoire:
nineteenth-century guitar repertoire, exercises, études, studies and
that kind of thing. That was where I started.”
Vieaux began playing recitals throughout the area and by the time
he graduated high school, his mind was made up: he would go to
CIM and study with John Holmquist. Holmquist had won the biggest
competition back in the ’80s: the Guitar International Competition in
Toronto. “They only had the competition once every three years and
there weren’t that many winners,” explains Vieaux. “After I auditioned
at CIM I didn’t want to go anywhere else. It was great. And I won
the GFA [Guitar Foundation of America competition] my junior year,
which was unexpected.”
From Cutter to the Carpet
A great teacher and international competition wins weren’t all that
CIM afforded Vieaux; it also gave him a roommate who would be
with him on the red carpet of the Grammys nearly 25 years later.
Alan Bise, CIM alumnus and the school’s current director of Recording
Arts and Services, is also the classical producer for (the now
Grammy-winning) Azica records and has been working with
Vieaux for about 15 years.
Vieaux accepting his Grammy at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
Vieaux and his wife Erine walk the red carpet.
“Alan and I were roommates our freshman year, in the dorm,” says
Vieaux. “It’s a great example of how professional partnerships can
start here. It’s something we’re always telling our students. We’re
always telling them, ‘be cool!’ because you never know!” But that’s not
all. Bruce Egre, the president and chief recording engineer of Azica
Records, is also a CIM alumnus who knew Vieaux and Bise at school.
Today, he’s the head of the Audio Recording degree program at CIM.
In short, Play is a true CIM collaboration.
Life as a Grammy-Winning Artist
“My life was always very busy and crazy,” says Vieaux of the changes
in his life now that he dons the “Grammy-winning artist” title. “I’m still
performing every week in a different city, but instead of doing one
interview per city, I’m doing maybe two or three.” Vieaux will still
travel and play with passion and enthusiasm everywhere he goes.
He’ll continue to record, collaborate and teach. For Vieaux, “if the
word Grammy can draw another guitar enthusiast or non-classical
music listener to listen to my Bach album and experience one of the
great geniuses of western thought, then that’s really what it’s all about.”
Alan Bise, producer of the Grammy-winning album Play,
and his wife, Stefanie Paganini, at the award ceremony.
SPRING 2015
21
a l u m n i n ew s
Have some news?
Visit cim.edu and click “Newsroom.”
At the bottom of the page click “Submit
News,” then fill out and submit the form.
News is accepted on an ongoing basis
and may be held until the next issue.
Alumni
Mark Babbitt (MM ’95, Witser) appeared as
soloist with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra
performing Nino Rota's Trombone Concerto.
He was recently promoted to professor of
trombone at Illinois State University.
Glenn Brown (MM ’71, West) has a piano
restoration business with his son, Matthew,
and just finished work on a Steinway Art Grant
seven-foot piano with 3,150 pieces of inlaid
wood. It was once owned by the Sheik of French
Morocco and also owned by Mrs. Frank Lloyd
Wright until her death. It took them 18 years to
complete the restoration and it is now ready for
sale. Brown also performs with his jazz group,
Glenn Brown's Ambassadors of Jazz.
Ryan Downey (MM ’11, Billions) sings on a
new recording of Rachmaninoff's “All-Night
Vigil” by the Phoenix Chorale and Kansas
City Chorale. Within the first week, the album
debuted at #1 on the Billboard Traditional
Classical Chart; #1 on three Amazon sales charts
in Opera/Vocal, Chamber, & Classical; #2 on
iTunes Classical chart; and it was chosen as an
iTunes Editor’s Choice.
Richard Glazier (DMA ’95, Pastor) is
featured in a new television show on PBS called
Broadway to Hollywood. It aired this spring.
Two CIM vocal performance alumni recently
appeared in L’Italiana in Algeri with the Lyric
Opera of Kansas City. Samantha Gossard
(MM ’12, Cole) sang Zulma and Irene Roberts
(MM ’08, Southern, Schiller) sang Isabella.
William Johnston (DMA ’11, Vernon)
performed the West Coast premiere of
Mark Gresham’s “Three Essays for Viola and
Double String Orchestra” with the San Jose
Chamber Orchestra in March.
University Circle Wind Ensemble will present
the premiere of “This is My Body” by CIM
22
alumnus Kevin Krumenauer (MM ’03,
Brouwer), a new piece for mezzo, tenor, winds
and percussion based on sacred texts.
April Martin (MM ’11, AD ’13, Schiller,
Cole) will perform as an apprentice artist with
Central City Opera in summer 2015. She will
sing Antonia in Man of La Mancha, Suivante
de la Duchesse and Amante # 1 in Don Quixote
chez la Duchesse and will be part of the
ensemble for La Traviata.
Joseph Rebman (BM ’13, Kondonassis, Allen)
will be a featured composer at the TUTTI 2015
New Music Festival held at Denison University
in Granville, Ohio. His piece “Mnemosyne” for
harp and flute will be performed by the faculty
in a chamber recital.
In January, Sharon Roffman (BM ’99, MM ’01,
Weilerstein) premiered a new violin concerto
by Bruce Adolphe called “I Will Not Remain
Silent” with Michael Stern conducting the IRIS
orchestra in Memphis, Tennessee. This concerto
is inspired by the life of Joachim Prinz, a rabbi
from Berlin during the Nazi era, who immigrated
to the United States, developed a friendship
with Martin Luther King, Jr., and became a vocal
supporter of the civil rights movement. With
the amazing support of IRIS, and invaluable
help from Dr. Marilyn Taylor and Erica Sears,
Roffman created a high school curriculum
website based on Prinz's philosophies, centering
on the role of music and art in the Holocaust and
the Civil Rights movement and the importance
of speaking out against discrimination and
injustice. Roffman and other IRIS musicians
have been working with students at Overton
High and Soulsville charter school since
August. The curriculum includes great music
playlists and videos and is open to all at
sharonroffman.com/prinzproject.
Eduardo Valdes (MM ’86, Vassos) has been
invited to be the main speaker for the 2015
commencement ceremonies at his undergraduate
alma mater, Mount Union College. Valdes has
been singing at the Metropolitan Opera for
21 years.
Student Rachel Kunce (voice, Southern);
alumnae Alejandra Martinez (PS ’14, Schiller),
Megan Thompson (MM ’14, Billions) and
Lyndsay Moy (MM ’13 Billions); and CIM Staff
Pianist Adam Whiting performed at the First
Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland during its
seventh annual Domestic Violence Awareness
Fundraiser in October.
Appointments
Allison Gagnon (DMA ’99, Epperson) has
been appointed to the rank of associate professor
of music at the UNC School of the Arts
in Winston-Salem, NC, beginning with the
2014-15 academic year. She has been on faculty
in the School of Music since graduating from
CIM and established the graduate program
in collaborative piano there in 2001. In May
2014 she was also the recipient of a UNCSA
Excellence in Teaching Award.
Conrad Jones (BM ’11, Sachs, Miller) is the
newly appointed principal trumpet of the
Tucson Symphony Orchestra. This season, he
performed George Tsontakis’s trumpet concerto
“True Colors” to tremendous acclaim. It was his
first performance in his new role. During the
summer season he is principal trumpet of the
Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, OR.
Kathryn McManus (MM ’74, Chalifoux) was
appointed executive director by the Board of
Directors of the American Harp Society, Inc.,
in March.
Dr. Shannon Thomas (DMA ’11, Kantor) was
appointed assistant professor of violin at Florida
State University. Previous faculty appointments
include the University of Southern Mississippi
and Lee University. Thomas spends her
summers as education director of the Innsbrook
Institute Summer Music Academy & Festival
in Innsbrook, Missouri, and is on faculty at
Kinhaven Music School in Weston, Vermont.
Alexandra Thompson (BM ’11, Geber) won a
section cello spot in the Pittsburgh Symphony
Orchestra.
Prizewinners
Chia-Ying Chan (MM ’10, Brown, Schenly)
won first place in the American Protégé
International Competition of Romantic Music
in 2014. Chan gave her Carnegie Hall debut
performance in March for the American
Protégé Winners’ recital where she also
received her certificate in American Protégé.
Dr. Grace Fong (MM ’03, DMA ’06, Babayan)
recently received the Distinguished Alumni
Award from the Colburn School where
she performed and gave a master class. She
also performed recently as soloist with
Russia’s Mariinsky Theater Orchestra under
Valery Gergiev.
Rixiang Huang (BM ’17, Pompa-Baldi,
Schenly) won the silver medal in the 2015 New
York International Artists Piano Competition
Category C (age 18-35), held by the New York
International Artists Association. Huang will
have his Carnegie solo debut on June 30 in
Carnegie Weill Recital Hall.
The Verona Quartet, which includes CIM
alumni Dorothy Ro (BM ’11, Linda Cerone,
David Cerone) and Jonathan Ong (MM ’12,
Kantor), received Second Prize as well as the
ProQuartet-CEMC Prize at the Wigmore Hall
International String Quartet Competition in
London. Ro attributes her passion for string
quartets to her time at CIM and to the Cavani
Quartet, which was an important influence in
her chamber music studies.
In recognition of a 29-year career with the
Metropolitan Opera, CIM alumna
Lenore Rosenberg (AD ’84, Vassos) received
the Gerda Lissner Foundation’s Lifetime
Achievement award for her dedication to young
singers and the musical arts in April at Zankel
Hall, Carnegie Hall.
Faculty
In March, Antonio Pompa-Baldi (piano),
together with the Fresno Philharmonic
conducted by Maestro Theodore Kuchar,
performed all five piano concertos by
Beethoven in one weekend.
The highlight of CIM guitar head Jason Vieaux’s
(head, guitar) spring season was taking home
a 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical
Instrumental Solo for his latest solo album,
Play. In February, he released an album called
Together with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis.
The duo performed together at CIM in May
as part of the Guitars International Festival.
Vieaux’s winter performance highlights
include performances with the New Mexico
Philharmonic, Akron Symphony Orchestra and
Oakridge Symphony Orchestra, as well as recitals
at the Florida Guitar Foundation, Glema Mahr
Center in Kentucky, Lee University, the Long
Island Guitar Festival and with Kondonassis
at 92Y in New York City. He also performed
a five-concert tour of Korea, a concert at Live
Connections in Philadelphia and two concerts
with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln
Center.
In November, Richard Weiner (co-head,
timpani/percussion) performed Ravel’s
complete “Daphnis et Chloé” with the National
Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of
Matthias Pintscher, in Washington, DC. The
NSO has three former CIM students as members
of the orchestra. In addition to Mr. Weiner,
Robert Klieger, assistant principal percussionist
of the Milwaukee Symphony, also was engaged
for that week.
Students
Chaconne Klaverenga (guitar, Vieaux) was
a featured solo artist for the Women of the
Guitar Festival in Buffalo, NY, in March 2015.
Klaverenga performed a solo concert and taught
master classes for this event.
Andrew Stock (composition, Fitch) was one of
ten composers from around the country selected
for the LA Phil’s National Composers Intensive,
Next on Grand New Music Festival in May.
Stock’s win earns him the chance to write a new
work for the LA-based new music ensemble wild
Up, which will be rehearsed and refined during
the festival. Selected commissioned works will be
performed publically and wild Up will record all
of the commissioned works for the composers. As
part of this fully funded competition, Stock will
also attend LA Phil concerts, observe rehearsals
and have the opportunity to work individually
with guest composers in master classes.
Preparatory
Owen Lockwood (violin, Sims) was selected
to participate in The Brian Lewis Young Artist
Program, a tuition-free opportunity for 12
highly gifted violinists up to the age of 18 to
receive intense daily private instruction. The
program will cover concerto repertoire, show
pieces, sonata literature, études and technical
studies, solo Bach, Ysaye Solo Sonatas, how
to rehearse with both piano and as soloist with
orchestra and how to perform.
In Memoriam
Ann Cherry, a CIM flute student in the mid
’60s, died recently in London, where she had
lived for many years. She was a senior lecturer in
flute at Trinity College of Music and coordinator
of wind, brass and percussion at Trinity College
of Music, Junior Department. She was also a
mentor for the newly created Certificate of
Teaching offered by the Associated Board of the
Royal Schools of Music. Cherry was secretary
of the British Flute Society, a music critic for
Music Teacher magazine and an adjudicator at
many festivals and competitions.
Virginia Phelps “Tommy” Clancy (BM
’42, van der Veer), died on March 31, 2015, in
Raleigh, NC. She was also the sister of CIM
alumna Marjorie Kampenga. Clancy and her
brother and sisters grew up in a family devoted
to music and were all accomplished musicians.
Clancy was an excellent accompanist for voice
students and was especially skilled in this capacity
due to her exceptional knowledge, sight-reading
skills and deep musicality.
Dominick John Cocca, Sr. (BM ’53, Rettew)
passed away on March 30, 2015. He was a
veteran of the United States Army and had a
lifelong career in teaching music.
Jeffery Eaton (BM ’79, MM ’81, Harris) passed
away in Eugene, OR, after a brief battle with
cancer. He earned a bachelor's degree in biological
sciences from the University of California,
Berkeley, and bachelor's and master's degrees in
cello from the Cleveland Institute of Music in
1979 and 1981 respectively, studying with Alan
J. Harris. A position as a cellist in the Eugene
Symphony brought him to Eugene in 1983. In
addition to playing for the Symphony for more
than 30 years, Eaton was the managing director
and later executive director of the Oregon
Mozart Players for more than 14 years. He
also served as secretary-treasurer of the local
musicians’ union.
Ethel Bonita (Bonnie) Potts (BM ’40,
MM ’42, Rose) passed away at age 96. Potts was a
member of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra under
Robert Shaw and was a former CIM faculty
member active in chamber music performance
in and around Cleveland and Atlanta. A member
of the Kansas City Symphony during WWII,
she was one of a group of professional orchestra
musicians who, when they were displaced by
returning veterans, founded “The Orchettes”
to provide music for dinner and dancing in the
Cleveland area as well as a source of income at
a time when the only woman in the Cleveland
Orchestra was the harpist. They also founded
the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra with Hyman
Schandler, the principal second violin of the
Cleveland Orchestra, to continue performing the
classical symphonic repertoire.
Nancy H. Wild (BM ’65, Music History), died
at home on January 24, 2015. She was a piano
teacher as well as a volunteer piano player and
song leader for Head Start and several nursing
homes. She was active in the Unitarian Players,
a community theater group that she and her
husband helped create. She and her husband
enjoyed travel and hosted many Cleveland
International Program participants in their
home and visited many of their countries.
S P R I N G 2 0 15
23
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ABOUT CIM
Founded in 1920, the Cleveland Institute of
Music (CIM) is one of eight independent music
conservatories in the country and is known for
superior orchestral, chamber music, composition
and opera programs at both the undergraduate
and graduate levels. CIM graduates play important
musical roles in our world as composers producing
meaningful new repertoire, as eminent instrumental
and vocal soloists, as world-renowned chamber
musicians and as members of premier orchestras
around the globe. More than half of the members
of The Cleveland Orchestra are connected to
CIM as members of the faculty, alumni or both.
Located in University Circle, Cleveland’s cultural
hub, CIM is easily accessible to all music lovers—
providing hundreds of concerts annually, most
free of charge. Visit cim.edu for more information.
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