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TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF CLASSICAL MUSICIANS
World class faculty, a stimulating, supportive atmosphere and outstanding facilities make the Cleveland Institute of Music an ideal environment for training the next generation of classical music performers.
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It’s a Wolf!
Uncovering the acoustical phenomenon that drives string players crazy
ABOVE Wolf notes—string players all deal with them. But why? (story page 12) ON THE COVER Student apprentice Leah Stevens (flute, Smith) practices before her teaching session with CIM’s Distance Learning program. (story page 8)
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES
4 Noteworthy Fall Concerto Competition Winners Exclusive Master Class with Renée Fleming CIM Perspectives Brings the Action to You Alum Plays for South Korean President Cleveland Ovations #SeeCIM Through Students’ Eyes
8 From the Studio to Shanghai and Everywhere in Between CIM’s Distance Learning Program sends students around the country and the globe without ever leaving Cleveland.
16 Events CIM Celebrates Community The Marriage of Figaro Is the Talk of the Town
12 It’s a Wolf Our mission to get to the bottom of wolf notes—what are they, what causes them and what (if anything) can be done about them?
18 Development Donor Profile: The McCollum Foundation 20 Alumni Snapshot NY Phil Concertmaster Frank Huang 22 Listings Alumni Appointments Prizewinners Faculty Students Preparatory In Memoriam W I N T E R 2 0 16
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Noteworthy Fall Concerto Winners to Perform with CIM Orchestra this Spring The results are in! This fall’s CIM Concerto Competition winners are Rachel Lee Hall (harp, Kondonassis), Michael Harper (trumpet, Sachs), Christine Wu (violin, Laredo) and Shih-Hsien Yeh (piano, Paik). Emma Pin-Hsiu Liu (piano, Brown/Paik) and James K. Thompson (violin, Preucil) received honorable mentions. The winners have each earned a coveted spot to perform a solo with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra this spring. The winners were very grateful to be chosen and are already looking forward to their solos in the spring. “I’m honored to be selected to perform with the CIM Orchestra,” says Harper. “I very much look forward to making music with my friends and colleagues next semester!” For Hall the experience helped her appreciate her fellow CIM musicians. “It was such a joy to perform and humbling to have been able to compete next to so many absolutely fantastic musicians,” she says. “What a wonderful reminder of how incredible it is to share with so many talented and hardworking artists. I’m so excited to have been given the opportunity to work alongside these artists in concert next semester!” Wu had fun sharing Elgar’s wonderful music with the panel of judges. “It felt liberating to just let loose and play my heart out. I’m so grateful for the encouragement of all my incredible teachers, family and friends, and I look forward to collaborating with my wonderful colleagues in the CIM Orchestra next semester!” Yeh felt good about his performance, but he was still happy to hear the news. “I felt I tried to play my best on stage and to prepare as best I could,” he says. “I was very excited to hear I won.” Congratulations to all for this wonderful achievement.
From top to bottom: Christine Wu (violin, Laredo), Michael Harper (trumpet, Sachs) and Rachel Lee Hall (harp, Kondonassis) perform in CIM’s fall concerto competition.
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Exclusive Master Class with Renée Fleming While legendary soprano Renée Fleming was in town for her performance with The Cleveland Orchestra in the fall, she took some time to host a private master class open to CIM students. Many took to social media to document their excitement, posting selfies with Fleming with comments like “We’re officially on a first name basis!” and hashtags such as #ReneeFlemingRocksMySocks.
Junior Elora Lencoski (voice, Billions) pictured above (right), was in the audience. “Renée’s words were so inspiring!” she says. “It was nice to have a reminder of why we do what we do and to be reminded of the joy our music brings to us.” Artist Diploma student Coraine Tate (voice, Schiller) also found value as an audience member. “Ms. Fleming’s warmth, charisma and honesty made it an exhilarating experience to be in the audience during the voice master class. I walked away with a better sense of what it takes to succeed in the classical music industry, while feeling incredibly encouraged and excited to take on the work of doing so.” Other audience members included senior Emily Uddenberg (voice, Southern), who posed for a selfie with Fleming above (left). “Renée’s passion for opera and singing is contagious and inspires young singers to love it too,” says Uddenberg. “I only hope I get to continue that legacy and create a new generation of students to love this art form as much as she and I do.” Masters student Matthew Maisano (voice, Southern), pictured above (middle), said the master class was a wonderful experience. “It was thrilling to see Ms. Fleming help all the singers to get into their bodies. She focused on freeing their voices and finding their sense of musical expression. Her treatment of each vocal style was greatly informative. I appreciated her kindness and openness with everyone in the room during her Q&A.”
CIM Perspectives Brings the Audience Inside the Action Ever wonder what it’s like to conduct an orchestra or to be swaying in unison with the violin section? CIM Perspectives is hoping to bring that experience to anyone with access to YouTube. This new program outfits CIM performers and conductors with GoPro cameras during performances to give viewers a unique look at what it feels like inside the orchestra. This fall, the director of the CIM Orchestral Program, Carl Topilow, strapped on the mini camera for his conducting performance with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra at Severance Hall. “I was excited to be a part of this project,” said Topilow. “I thought it was a fun way for the audience to see what I see on stage. And I didn’t notice the camera at all during the performance. I have enough to think about!” CIM Perspectives is the brainchild of Alan Bise, director of Recording Arts & Services and Lindsay Wissman, multimedia producer. “CIM Perspectives is designed to give viewers a different perspective on the world of classical music performance,” says Bise. “It’s been found that one of the keys to building an audience is exposure and familiarity. We hope that Perspectives will help to break down the audience/stage barrier and give viewers some insight into the life of the very performers whom they are asked to support.” Check out the CIM Perspectives video on the Cleveland Institute of Music’s YouTube channel. W I N T E R 2 0 16
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Noteworthy Alum Plays for the President of South Korea CIM alumni perform all around the globe and for an array of audiences. And now, we can add to the “sitting presidents” list. In October CIM alumnus Suliman Tekalli (MM ’13, Smirnoff) performed as soloist for South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Washington, D.C., during Park’s visit with President Obama. Tekalli performed Vivaldi’s “Summer” with the world-renowned ensemble International Sejong Soloists, which also debuted Tekalli’s own arrangement of Ástor Piazzolla’s “Libertango” with violist Richard O’Neill. “The whole atmosphere was charged backstage, and the hall was incredible, like a great Grecian temple,” says Tekalli of the experience. “To come on stage as a soloist in front of this world-class group of musicians to face a whole audience of world leaders was certainly a singular rush and a great honor.” Dignitaries present at the event included Secretary of State John Kerry, Congressman Charles Rangel and U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert. At the conclusion of the event, President Park formally received Tekalli along with the other performers present that night. Tekalli performed on an Antonio Stradivarius violin, Cremona, 1683, ex-Cobbett, which is on loan to him from Mr. Higgin Kim, Chairman
Alum Suliman Tekalli (MM ’13, Smirnoff) with the International Sejong Soloists performing for South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Washington, D.C.
of Byuckaan Engineering Co. Ltd through the Stradivari Society ® of Chicago and Sejong Soloists. Tekalli recently won top prize at the 2015 Seoul International Music Competition.
WCLV’s Cleveland Ovations Season Is Underway Joel Smirnoff, Amnon Weinstein, Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Carl Topilow are just a few of the CIM guests on this year’s season of WCLV’s Cleveland Ovations. Airing Wednesday nights at 8pm on 104.9 FM, this series showcases concerts from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, ChamberFest Cleveland and more. This fall, the program aired Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra concerts at home and in Severance Hall, as well as various CIM faculty recitals. A highlight of each broadcast is the intermission interviews with the performers, conductors and hosts of the concerts, giving listeners extra insight and insider details about the performances. This spring it will feature CIM on the following dates: January 13, 2016 March 16, 2016 February 3, 2016 April 6, 2016 February 10, 2016 February 17, 2016
Be sure to tune in!
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#SeeCIM Through CIM Students’ Eyes This fall, we asked students to give us a snapshot into their everyday lives by asking them to tag the photos they post on social media with the hashtag #SeeCIM. Images came flooding in, ranging from gorgeous fall foliage to the best study spots on campus to pre-performance selfies. Each week we chose a photo of the week to be featured on CIM’s official Facebook Page. But it was always hard to choose just one! Below here’s a sampling of some of the great shots.
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7 1. Fall leaves outside CIM’s Mixon Hall taken by Kathryn Westerlund | 2. The Aster Quartet taken by Zion Lee | 3. A CIM hallway (on a Monday) taken by Nara Avetisyan | 4. CIM’s courtyard at dusk taken by Rebecca Willett | 5. The Count and Countess before opening night of CIM’s production of The Marriage of Figaro taken by Matthew Maisano | 6. and 7. CIM Orchestra rehearsing for its November concert and the front steps of CIM both taken by Zion Lee
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FROM THE STUDIO TO SHANGHAI AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN CIM’s Distance Learning Program sends students around the country and the globe without ever leaving Cleveland. Photos by Robert Muller
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The basement of the Cleveland Institute of Music might not look like much at first. A long white corridor snakes past lockers and practice rooms, the muted sound of students practicing filling the space. At the end of the hall, at the back of the building, there are two studios. And although their soundproof walls make what goes on inside completely unheard to the passerby, these spaces are bursting with energy. The type of energy you need to engage a room full of elementary school kids a thousand miles away or to play your heart out for a revered faculty member from the Royal College of Music in London. In studios A and B the Distance Learning program does its finest work; connecting with classrooms, institutions and organizations not just across the country, but around the world. The K-12 program links elementary, middle and high school students to CIM students honing their teaching skills. The Global Auditions Training Program sets up mock auditions so CIM students can practice this often-daunting process. But the best part about each and every program within Distance Learning is that it’s educational for those all over the globe.
MUSIC AND MRS. M
Each year, Distance Learning provides 300 to 400 lessons to K-12 classrooms through videoconferencing technology. Half of the lessons are solely music education; the other half, interdisciplinary. These lessons have names like “Mozart Math,” “Science of Sound” and “The Planets? Suite!” and all teach music while incorporating math, science and history. These lessons are vital in an age when arts and music programs are being trimmed back or cut entirely. Each lesson, built by the Distance Learning Department, educates children in the subject of music but also strives to give teachers what they need to meet their standards and curriculum requirements of today. Heather Young Mandujano, Distance Learning’s education coordinator, sits patiently in front of the perfectly positioned camera in studio B waiting for the sixth grade class in Texas to come on the screen. As soon as the connection is made, Mandujano (or “Mrs. M”) launches into her lesson, “La Musica de Mexico.” “¡Hola! How’s everyone doing today?” she asks with a smile.
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Mandujano spent several years as a classroom teacher before coming to CIM and it shows. She leads the 45-minute session, which focuses on Mexican culture through music, but includes history, rhythmic meter and instrument identification along the way. Nearing the end, Mandujano turns it over to CIM student Chee-Hang See, who is a participant in the Distance Learning Student Apprentice Program. He begins his lesson on Mexican composer Manuel Maria Ponce, describing one of the composer’s most popular songs, “Estrellita.” Then, he and fellow CIM student JW Kriewall perform the piece on piano and bassoon for the class that sits more than a thousand miles away. See and his fellow student apprentices often choose every part of the lesson, from the piece of music presented to which subjects are incorporated. They create lesson plans and perform for and interact with students of all ages. See has been a student apprentice since last fall. “I love teaching,” he says. “This is a good way to interact. I taught before I came to Cleveland, but this is a new form of teaching. I’ve always wanted to try videoconferencing teaching, and this was a great opportunity.” Soon See will be moving from student apprentice to student presenter, sitting in Mandujano’s seat and leading the full session. “I love the interaction. I get to see how middle school students will act versus high school students, so it’s really a great experience,” he says.
TECHS IN ACTION
Classrooms around the country get to see what goes on inside the studio, but behind a double glass window in the Distance Learning studio CIM student technicians sit in the booth, busy balancing audio levels on the mixer and queuing up video clips and slideshow presentations to run seamlessly throughout the lesson.
Distance Learning employs roughly Student Apprentices create
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Student technicians (or “techs”) Susan Bengtson and Nick Voorhees run the “La Musica de Mexico” lesson. “If you wanted to work in sound production or recording this type of job would be really useful,” says Bengtson. These techs are trained on all the equipment and entirely handle the technical part of every session. But this job gives you more than just a crash course in audio or video production; it also helps with people skills and interaction. “You have to speak with other people, so it helps with your public speaking,” says Voorhees, who’s been working as a tech for two years. “Even with test calls to make sure the connections work, I have to talk to new people all the time. It gets easier the more often you do it,” he says. After a job like this student techs can work on a deeper level when, as performers, they need to work with a recording engineer. “It will help you speak intelligently to sound production professionals in the future,” Bengtson adds.
AUDITIONS GO GLOBAL
Auditions are a major part of a musician’s career, and being prepared for them is the goal of Distance Learning’s Global Auditions Training Program (GATP). This unique program allows CIM students to play for and receive feedback from four different professionals at conservatories and institutions around the world. This year, those institutions include the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the New World Symphony, the Royal College of Music – London and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. When CIM students in this program sit down in front of the camera and the top-of-the-line microphone, they are performing (or mock auditioning) for experts in the field. Once our student finishes, students from other institutions play. The sessions focus on one instrument at a time, and each student plays about eight minutes of music. CIM faculty members invite their studios to observe so that everyone can reap the benefits of the international instruction and discussion.
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CIM students each year
lesson plans over the course of their time in the program
The average class size student apprentices teach is Distance Learning provides
300-400
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students
lessons per year to K-12 classrooms
Over the course of one year, Distance Learning connects to more than 10
80
cities
“It was quite an interesting experience, and I think that it was quite valuable to the students,” says Mary Kay Fink, flute faculty and Cleveland Orchestra member. “They received immediate feedback on their auditions and sometimes suggestions on how to improve. It was beneficial for them to learn what musical concepts appear to be universal and how much of judging is also personal taste.” Stephen Geber, head of the cello department, also participated in the program. “I think the program is tremendous,” he says. He spoke about the discussions among the different faculty members from around the world. “The basic technical aspects are pretty uniform from nation to nation—intonation, rhythm, sound quality —we’re 100 percent in agreement. But there are some differences in stylistic interpretations. In the end, if there’s a disagreement, it’s a friendly one.”
would be prepared to go on and audition for the Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra after this program,” he says. “The biggest challenge is finding a time that works in everyone’s time zone!”
PERSONAL CONNECTIONS AT A DISTANCE
At the end of the day, the Distance Learning program strives to make connections—both personal and technical. They connect third graders to CIM student musicians and percussion studios with masters in Shanghai. Whether students participate as an apprentice, a student tech or an ambassador for CIM during a global audition, they will expand their skill set and be prepared for today’s multifaceted professional landscape. When the lines of communication are open and available, great discussion, learning and growth are inevitable.
Gregory Howe, the director of the Distance Learning program, explains that the goal of GATP is to discover the differences in style from country to country, continent to continent. “A CIM player
PICTURED: From left to right: Leah Stevens (flute, Smith) is a Distance Learning apprentice and performer, and this is her second year in the program. Siyao Li (piano, Paik) is in her first year as an apprentice and technician. JW Kriewall (bassoon, Clouser) is also in his first year as a performer and technician. Eun-Song Koh (violin, Sloman) has been a performer in the program for four years. W I N T E R 2 0 16
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It’s a
WOLF!
Uncovering the acoustical phenomenon that drives string players crazy
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In the classical music world, you often hear the term “wolf tone” or “wolf note” floating around. It’s no secret to string players. Many deal with it. But the editorial team at CIM wasn’t quite sure exactly what it was, and we began to ask around. At first we got a lot of the same responses: “Yes, my instrument has a wolf. Sure, I can play around it. No, I don’t know where it comes from or what causes it.” Thus, our quest to find out began.
WHAT IS IT?
First, let’s clarify what a wolf is. Nontechnically (we’ll get technical later), a wolf is a note played on a stringed instrument that doesn’t have the same clear beautiful tone, or projection as other notes. It occurs most often in cellos and violas but can plague all stringed instruments. “It sounds like the sound is somewhat distorted, and it can cause the pitch to waver slightly,” says Jeffrey Irvine, co-head of the viola department. “It can also come out as a scratchy sound.” “You’ll be playing along, and all of a sudden it will sound a little like ponticello, which is the effect of playing the string right next to the bridge,” says viola faculty and Cleveland Orchestra member Mark Jackobs. “It gets kind of glassy. I have no idea why it’s called a wolf tone. It just kind of sounds like it’s missing all of a sudden. Or it might squeak a little bit.” The issue is within the instrument itself, and the player is not to blame; however, having a wolf doesn’t mean that the instrument is of bad quality. “I just played on a Goffriller viola from a dealer friend of mine,” says Jackobs. “It’s a million-dollar viola. And it had one. It was barely there because it was set up so well, and it’s such a great instrument. But it doesn’t matter—a hundred bucks or a million bucks.” Cellists deal with the acoustical oddity the most. “It’s one of those notes that has a really hard time speaking,” says freshman and cellist Daniel Kaler. “I have usually found it to be on the G and C strings.” So, we’ve got a note that doesn’t speak, found generally in stringed instruments with a lower register. Now we’re getting somewhere.
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TAMING THE WOLF
If some of the best instruments in the world have a wolf, why don’t we (the non-musicians) ever notice it? It turns out there are a lot of things you can do to help diminish a wolf. There are wolf eliminators, which are little devices you add to one of the strings behind the bridge or glue to the body of the instrument, most commonly used by cellists. Kaler has used wolf eliminators, but he wasn’t happy with the result. “I felt it was restricting my sound a little bit on other strings,” he says. “It’s a nice tool, but I think that the cost of the sound on the other strings might not always be worth it.” Instead, he pushes the instrument more with his knees when he encounters that note. “It restricts some of the vibrations of the wood, which in turn contribute to producing the wolf tone,” he says. You can play around a wolf by playing the same note on another string. You can also adjust things like bow pressure and bow speed and make changes to the instrument itself. “There’s an enormous amount you can do with sound post adjustment and with the strings— changing the tension on the instrument,” says Jackobs. “Everything that goes into playing, even bridge angles and bridge height.” However, these techniques won’t completely fix the problem. “It’s something you can control to a certain extent,” says Irvine. “But there’s a certain part that you can’t control. If it’s only a weak wolf, and if the player controls it well, the audience may not even be aware of it.”
A WOLF IN THE MAKING
We spoke to luthier Hiroshi Iizuka, the mader of Irvine’s viola, who shed some light on how to avoid building a wolf into an instrument. The key, it seems, is in the thickness of certain parts of the instrument itself. “If the plates or the ribs are made too thin, the body over-vibrates,” says Iizuka. “But the ribs have to be thick enough to make the body stable. As a maker you must control this.” Iizuka went on to explain that there’s a balance of thin and thick that must be struck for a quality instrument. “A factory-made instrument is very thick, and it doesn’t have wolf tones, but it also isn’t a very good instrument.” Iizuka explained that a maker or restorer could glue extra wood or even cloth to add thickness to the ribs or plate of an older instrument to make the instrument less sensitive. Other solutions include making the sound post thicker—although Iizuka doesn’t think this is particularly effective—adding a heavier tailpiece, or a heavier bridge. But in the end he admits that every instrument is different. And by the sound of it, there seem to be hundreds of minor adjustments to about every part of the instrument to help eliminate this unpleasant note.
NOW WE’RE GETTING TECHNICAL
It’s safe to say that most musicians who play stringed instruments know about this issue, especially violists and cellists. But the science behind it remains largely unknown to even the musicians who deal with it on a daily basis. “We couldn’t all give you the physical explanation of it, but we know a wolf is there on some instruments,” says Irvine. Most musicians we polled say they’ve always been aware of the issue—what it sounds like and what to do to avoid it. What we needed to find out next was, why?
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After checking out a tome from the library filled with dizzying formulas, diagrams and symbols we’ve never seen before, we found Dr. Robert Celmer, director of the Acoustics Program & Laboratory at the University of Hartford (uhaweb.hartford.edu/acoustics), who helped us understand the problem. Mercifully, he took it slow. “First, the wooden bodies (soundboards) and cavities of the violin, viola, cello, etc. are very important to help make the instrument audible,” he explains. “If you’ve ever strummed an electric guitar without plugging it in, you hear how quiet it is. That’s because the string doesn’t have much surface area and thus can’t move a lot of air. You can’t cool yourself off by waving a noodle in front of your face, right?!” Thank you, Dr. Celmer; you’re speaking our language. He continued. “Thus, the wood and the cavity within actually vibrate at the same ‘notes’ played by the string (called resonance), and the larger surface area of the soundboard pushes much more air and gives the instrument its full sound character and helps it project into a concert hall.” Got it. Cavity plus surface area equals projection. “Second, have you ever tied one end of a rope to a garage door handle and shook the string up and down to create ‘standing waves’ on the string? When a cello is bowed, the string is set into vibration, and those waves travel down the string to the bridge, which is the effective ‘end’ of the string at that end. Normally, the bridge acts as a solid object (like the garage door) and causes the waves to reflect back down the string, creating the same type of standing wave pattern.” OK, we’re still with you. “However, at certain notes played on the instrument, one of the body resonances is especially strong, which causes the bridge to no longer act like a solid wall, but instead moves quite significantly due to the body’s resonant motion.” In other words, when the vibrations are too strong, the bridge wobbles. “When this happens, the bridge loses its ability to reflect the energy back down the string, and thus the player loses the feedback of the string vibration so crucial during the bowing motion.” So essentially, the bridge is no longer the sturdy garage door. “The result is that the overall sound level drops, which in turn causes the body resonance to die off, at which point the bridge becomes rigid again, and reflections off the bridge begin to reestablish themselves. This creates an endless cycle of the instrument rapidly growing and dropping in sound level at about five times a second. This condition makes it virtually impossible for a player to produce a steady sound. The note being played when this phenomenon happens is called a ‘wolf note.’” Eureka! In sum, when the resonance is too strong, the vibrations make the bridge unstable. When it’s unstable it can’t adequately bounce the soundwaves back, causing the sound to drop. When the sound drops, the vibrations die down as well, stabilizing the bridge once again, allowing for projection once again. This in turn results in too much vibration, thus continuing the vicious cycle. There you have it. The wolf fully explained—to both those who’ve never heard of it and the musicians who know it all too well. Now, can anyone tell us how it got that name?
Thoughts from the CIM Community on Wolf Notes:
“Sometimes it’s on very good instruments. Sometimes it’s on bad instruments.” Jeffrey Irvine, head of the viola department
“It’s just one of those notes.” Daniel Kaler, freshman cellist
“To varying degrees they raise their ugly heads.” Mark Jackobs, viola faculty and Cleveland Orchestra member
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Events
CIM’s community concert Photo: Roger Mastroianni
CIM Celebrates Community CIM’s most ambitious community concert, A Celebration of Community, is a biennial joint concert that illustrates the power and relevance of community music-making. This year, this special event will be held on March 23, 2016, at 8pm in Severance Hall.
The Severance Hall stage will be filled for this year’s performance of Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80, and Schicksalslied (Songs of Destiny), Op. 54, with Symphony No. 1 in D Major, “Titan” by Mahler.
Musicians from Cleveland School of the Arts (CSA), The Singers’ Club of Cleveland and community musicians join the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra under the baton of Distinguished Principal Guest Artist Jahja Ling to perform iconic compositions.
This special event is free, but tickets are required and will be available starting on February 1, 2016, at the Severance Box Office or clevelandorchestra.com. The concert will also be broadcast live on wclv.com.
These celebratory concerts draw capacity audiences at Severance and provide both CSA and CIM students with a unique opportunity to perform together on stage in this magnificent concert hall.
Women’s Committee Benefit SAVE THE DATE The CIM Women’s Committee presents a musical evening to benefit the students of the Cleveland Institute of Music: , Saturday, April 2, 2016. You’ll be surrounded by stars while enjoying a performance featuring Frank Cohen with fellow CIM faculty and a gourmet dinner in a beautiful Euclid Avenue penthouse. For information call 216.791.6770 or visit cim.edu.
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The Marriage of Figaro Is the Talk of the Town The CIM Opera Theater’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro created buzz throughout the community this fall. Students, faculty and production crews worked tirelessly to put on a flawless show. The Recording Arts and Services department documented all of the behind-the-scenes action in its 10-episode miniseries, “The Making of Figaro.” Around town Cleveland Scene magazine dubbed the production one of the five classical music events not to miss that week, and ClevelandClassical. com interviewed the lead roles for a preview of the performance. When the first week of November finally came, everyone’s expectations were at an all-time high. And The Marriage of Figaro didn’t disappoint. After the first two nights the box office was printing extra programs to accommodate the growing crowds. Many feel The Marriage of Figaro is Mozart’s most perfect opera. David Bamberger and the CIM Opera Theater took the audience through Figaro and Susanna’s madcap wedding day with humor, mistaken identities, masquerades and tender romance. Some of Mozart’s most beloved melodies came to life with the CIM Orchestra conducted by Harry Davidson. “Susanna happens to be the mastermind,” soprano Caroline Bergan (voice, Schiller), who plays Susanna, told ClevelandClassical.com. “She also has a pureness and innocence about her. It’s the combination of innocence and intelligence that sometimes makes the role difficult to play. Also, she can’t always be seen as the mastermind.” Bass Daniel Fridley (voice, Southern), played the role of Figaro. “He’s trying to hatch all of these plots, but every time he tries, it doesn’t quite work out the way he expects,” Fridley told ClevelandClassical.com. “Because of that, Figaro ends up getting pulled along through this adventure by Susanna’s plotting more than his own.” The audience joined in on the fun, erupting in laughter and giving ample applause throughout. At home more than 850 people tuned in to watch the production through the live stream. In the end, the happy conclusion left everyone in smiles.
From top to bottom: Soprano Caroline Bergan (voice, Schiller) and bass Daniel Fridley (voice, Southern) as Figaro and Susanna; Soprano Coraine Tate (voice, Schiller) and baritone Matthew Maisano (voice, Southern) as the Count and Countess; the chorus. Photos: Roger Mastroianni
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Michael J. Dagon Named Vice President of Development Michael J. Dagon joined CIM as the vice president of development on December 1. “Mr. Dagon’s extensive experience leading successful fundraising efforts at the regional, national and international levels is an important addition to CIM’s current development efforts. The Board, faculty, staff and I are all excited to work with Michael as we continue to build for our future,” said Richard J. Hipple, chair of CIM’s Board of Trustees. Most recently, Dagon was regional chief development officer for the American Red Cross, where he was head of fundraising operations for 22 counties in Northeast Ohio. Prior to that position Dagon was the head fundraising officer for the United Nations (UN), where he led fundraising campaigns for the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN’s Program for Action Cancer Therapy at the International Atomic Energy Agency. In addition, Dagon was a director of development for the Cleveland Clinic during its $1.25 billion capital campaign and served in development roles at Barnard College, New York City Opera and Los Angeles Opera. “As a conservatory and internationally renowned institution of higher education, CIM offers compelling opportunities for development in education and the performing arts. I’m thrilled to join this exceptional institution,” said Dagon.
The Met Is On Demand! Through a generous gift by Dr. Tom Rose of Cleveland, CIM students, faculty and staff now have access to a new streaming resource: Met Opera on Demand. Met Opera on Demand is an online video streaming service that provides users access to hundreds of full-length Met performances. Met Opera also features classic telecasts from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s and audio recordings of historic radio broadcasts dating back to 1935. And the site is constantly expanding, as new HD broadcasts are added every month. Rose has been a supporter of CIM for many years and grew up with a love of opera after he started ushering for Met performances in Cleveland while he was in high school. Because of his love of opera Rose chose to make this resource available to the CIM community.
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Development The Legacy of a Musical Family On a 1946 cover of Life Magazine a 38-yearold Eleanor Searle Whitney McCollum sits in a carriage wearing a fashionable dress suit, reins in her grip. Her footman sits in the back. The image is black and white with the iconic LIFE logo splashed in red across the top. Eleanor is driving the carriage through her Long Island estate and looking forward with a slight smile tugging at her lips. This image beautifully encapsulates Eleanor, a woman who took the reins through life— and looked stylish doing it. Eleanor was a socialite and a major philanthropist, and though she doesn’t know it in this photo, her legacy would come to benefit some lucky Cleveland Institute of Music students nearly 70 years later.
Eleanor was born in Plymouth, Ohio, and moved to New York City to pursue opera singing after studying at Florida Southern College. There she met her first husband, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, with whom she had one son, Cornelius Searle Whitney. Cornelius followed in his mother’s musical footsteps and became a pianist. Eleanor divorced Whitney in 1957, at which time she turned once again to opera. In 1975 she married Leonard F. McCollum. Eleanor spent her life giving back to charitable institutions and organizations in the arts. She established the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers at the Houston Grand Opera and helped raise money for the Heritage Center Museum
in Plymouth, Ohio. In 2002 Eleanor passed away, and the Eleanor Searle McCollum Foundation was born. This year, the Cleveland Institute of Music received $50,000 from the Eleanor Searle McCollum Foundation to establish the C. Searle Whitney Piano Scholarship in honor of Eleanor’s son Cornelius, who passed away in March of 2015. The Foundation established scholarships in prominent music schools across the country to honor Cornelius and Eleanor, who both shared a love in music. The scholarship is endowed and will benefit CIM pianists for years to come, helping strengthen music education not just in Cleveland but around the country.
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/support/impact. W I N T E R 2 0 16
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Alumni Snapshot
From Cleveland to Concertmaster How the newly appointed NY Philharmonic concertmaster Frank Huang fell in love with music in Cleveland. Frank Huang soloed with his first orchestra at age nine. By the time he was 11, he soloed with the Houston Symphony in a concert that was broadcast nationally. As an adult, he’s performed with top orchestras throughout the country and the world and has won numerous prizes and competitions, including the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s Violin Competition. He’s performed on NPR’s Performance Today, Good Morning America and CNN. In 2010 he joined the Houston Symphony Orchestra as concertmaster, and in 2015 he won the coveted position of concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. But despite a whirlwind of early success for the 37-year-old virtuoso, his passion for music blossomed when he came up north. “I fell in love with violin and music while I was in Cleveland, while I was at CIM,” he says.
Finding the Spark in Cleveland
Huang was born in Beijing, and at age seven he came to Houston to join his parents who had been living in the United States for a few years. His first violin teacher was his mother. “Initially, I don’t think I liked the violin very much,” says Huang. “The discipline of having to practice every day for a kid is sometimes difficult.”
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Luckily he stuck it out, and by the age of fifteen he had heard about the now-former CIM faculty member Donald Weilerstein. “My teacher at the time knew of Don, and she really wanted me to study with him. I flew up to Cleveland when I was 15 just to have a lesson with him. I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not,” he says with a laugh. He decided he would come to Cleveland, and at 16 he enrolled in CIM’s Young Artist Program, studying with Weilerstein. He felt at home right away in his new environment. “In Houston I went to public school, which had an orchestra program, but nowhere nearly as serious as a place like CIM,” says Huang. “I felt a little strange being someone who practiced violin every day. Nobody else that I knew did that. So when I went to Cleveland, that environment and seeing all these people dedicating themselves to their instruments was very inspirational.” Huang graduated from the Young Artists Program in 1997 and continued on toward an undergraduate degree at CIM with Weilerstein as his teacher. “Don makes you think a lot about what you’re playing, what your goal is as a performer and how to make the audience
Photos: Chris Lee
appreciate the music that you’re performing,” he says. Weilerstein helped Huang see music beyond just the technical components. Once he found that, practicing and performing became much more fun. About a year or two into his studies with Weilerstein, Huang recalls his teacher complimenting him on his growth and progress. “I remember him telling me during one of my last lessons of that year that he thought I had improved a lot, and I thought that was a very strange thing to say because I wasn’t necessarily practicing more and I didn’t feel like I was better, in a way. But he told me when he heard me play he knew that I loved music now. And that was very interesting because when I thought about it, I realized that he was right.”
The Next Stage
Huang finished up at CIM and went on to earn a master’s degree at The Juilliard School. After graduating he was appointed the first violinist of the Ying Quartet and soon after received the concertmaster job in Houston. Then, in 2015, after an arduous two-week audition process, Huang was appointed to one of the most prestigious positions in the world, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, succeeding Glenn Dicterow, who retired after serving as concertmaster for 34 years. Today, he shares his time traveling back and forth from Houston to New York while adjusting to his new role, which he officially began in the fall.
the same page. With so many great players together in an orchestra, it can be really unbelievable when everybody is on the same page. Especially when you have a conductor also who is very talented and very respectful of the musicians’ ideas.” In addition to a new job, new city and new colleagues, Huang also has the privilege of a new (at least to him) violin. “I’m using the same instrument that Glenn had; it’s an early Guarneri del Gesù from the 1720s. Finding an instrument like that has always been a dream of mine. A voice that has that complexity and that power is very hard to find in modern instruments.” Even still, it’s something he’s working to get used to. “Gradually over the last few weeks we’ve been getting to know each other but these things take time and there are still many subtleties to figure out.” As Huang adjusts to the many changes he still promises to come back to vistit CIM soon. “I have only fond memories of my seven years there. Everyone is part of this big family.” We welcome you any time!
“Glenn and I are very different players,” says Huang of the transition. “We have different things we probably want to focus on, in terms of how to make the string section sound. But you’re part of a big team. In my view it’s all about teamwork and trying to get everybody on
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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 Joel Andrews, harpist (BM ’55, MM ’57, Chalifoux), has enjoyed a concert career covering solo appearances including the Rodrigo Concierto Serenata with the San Francisco Symphony under Arthur Fiedler. He has organized four harp festivals, the last of which drew 50 harpists nationwide including the master Carlos Salzedo. While teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory he had his debut at the Legion of Honor, followed by a debut in Town Hall, New York. He spent two years as a musician-in-residence at North Carolina State followed by two years of touring with the jazz group Paul Winter Consort. After developing the art of improvisation and healing, he toured 20 countries with his wife, Serafina. He has written two books reporting the miracles of this work, A Harp Full of Stars and Miracles Through Music. Ralitsa Georgieva-Smith (PS ’06, Pontremoli), and her husband, Jason Smith (MM ’07, Witser), are celebrating the one-year anniversary of starting their concert series Music for Our Children, benefiting UNICEF Children’s Rights and Emergency Relief Organization. Ten years after completing their degrees in music and earning positions at Cleveland State University and CIM, they started to talk about the idea helping children outside of the classroom. They wanted to impact the lives of children living in a heartbreaking reality of the most vulnerable and underprivileged places around the world. Samantha Gossard (MM ’12, Cole) completed the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Apprentice Artist program and was then a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, where she was a cover for the role of Mrs. Bass in Tobias Picker’s Emmeline. This season, she will sing for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in three upcoming productions: Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Third Wood-Sprite in Rusalka and Mercedes in Carmen, all role debuts. 22
Tracy Lebrecque-Pearson (BM ’07, Schiller/ Southern) is a soloist and member of the Army Voices of the United States Army Band, Pershing’s Own. She has been on active duty for seven years. Prior to joining Pershing’s Own, she was a member of the Soldiers’ Chorus of the United States Field Band, traveling with them for six years. Maggie Morrison (BM ’12, MM ’14, PompaBaldi) recently began her position at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto as a collaborative pianist for students enrolled in their precollege program, The Taylor Academy, as well as The Glenn Gould School. The La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Alexander Platt, began its 2015–16 season with a tribute to Nordic composers featuring Jean Sibelius’ violin concerto with world-class performer Janet Sung along with William Neil’s (BM ’77, MM ’79) first symphony, Sinfonia delle Gioie. The La Crosse Tribune spoke with Platt, who said, “William Neil is a great La Crosse musician, composer, and all-round advocate for the arts. I wanted to meet him as I knew that he was once composer-in-residence with Lyric Opera of Chicago, in the grand old days of that ensemble, and when he expressed to me his wish to write a short, one-movement symphony inspired by the ‘Northern’ style of Nielsen and Sibelius, I leaped at the chance.” Mary Vanhoozer Rodriguez (DMA ’13, Shapiro) and Wendy Case (MM ’10, Preucil), along with cellist Robert Nicholson, recently formed The Brahms’ Ghost Trio, an ensemble dedicated to sharing beauty with local communities through the gift of live classical music.
Appointments Michael Ashton (BM ’07, Bradetich/Dimoff) earned a double bass position with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Previously he served as assistant principal in the Greensboro Symphony. Natalie Cheung (BM ’09, Updegraff) joined the Las Vegas office of Lewis Roca Rothgerber as an associate in the business transactions practice group. Clients turn to Cheung for representation on real estate and corporate law, including entity selection and formation, commercial and residential real estate agreements, construction contracts, operating agreements, general commercial contracts and other transactional documents. She also advises clients
on franchise agreements, disclosure documents and compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s franchise and business opportunity regulations. Cheung is licensed in Nevada and Ohio and has more than two years of experience in corporate and franchise law practice. Prior to joining the firm, she was at Day Ketterer Ltd., where she was an associate in the business law practice group. In addition to her degree from CIM Cheung holds a JD, cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and a BA in psychology, cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University. Karl Fenner (BM ’04, Dimoff) won a double bass position with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He was previously serving as double bassist with the Colorado Symphony. Jake Fridkis (BM ’12, Smith) graduated from Yale University with both a master’s degree and an artist diploma. He also won Yale’s Thomas Nyfenger Prize for the student who demonstrated the highest standard of excellence in woodwind playing. He is now the principal flute at the South Dakota Symphony and has been substituting as principal flute with the Fort Worth Symphony. Carly Gomez (MM ’15, Clouser) has been appointed acting principal bassoon for the 2015–16 season with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra in Wheeling, WV. Lisa Guttenberg (BM ’98; MM ’00, Cerone/ Russell/George) became the assistant director at the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, IA. Boram Kang (MM ’06, PS ’08, Preucil) has been appointed to a tenure-track position in the second violin section of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Prior to her BSO appointment she has served as concertmaster at the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, as a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and the Akron Symphony Orchestra and as assistant concertmaster of the Louisville Orchestra for the 2012–13 season. Most recently, she served as the fixed fourth chair of the Colorado Symphony. Stephanie Price (BM ’12, Irvine) will be a visiting artist this year at Ohio University School of Music, teaching chamber music and viola master classes. Kevin Smith (MM ’15, Rose) earned a section first violin position with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and will serve as acting assisting concertmaster for the 2015–16 season.
Ted Soluri (MM ’92, McGill) was recently appointed principal bassoon of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and began in early September after eleven years with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and nine seasons with the Santa Fe Opera. In addition, he will be recording his first CD in May of 2016. The repertoire will be comprised of arias and art songs. Sarah Toy (BM ’14, MM ’15, Irvine) has joined the viola section in the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Yu Zhang (DMA ’15, Schenly/Brown) joined the Omaha Symphony as principal keyboard. He was a member of the New World Symphony in the fall of 2014 as a keyboard fellow and previously served as principal keyboard of the National Repertory Orchestra in 2013.
Prizewinners Yu Jin (BM ’07, Irvine/Ramsey), professor of viola at Kent State University, performed in November the premiere of a concerto written for her by Frank Wiley with the Kent State University Orchestra with Wiley. The concert took place at University Auditorium on the campus of Kent State University. Jin was also the First Prize Winner of the Washington International Viola Competition and is the former violist of the Miami Quartet.
Faculty The Cask of Amontillado, an opera with a libretto by Opera Program Artistic Director David Bamberger and music by Stewart Copeland, will have its New York premiere at the American Modern Ensemble January 16–19, 2016. Copeland is founder and percussionist of the group The Police, elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. He was welcomed to the world of classical music in 1989 when Bamberger commissioned his first opera, the large-scale epic Holy Blood and Crescent Moon, for Cleveland Opera. The Cask of Amontillado, based on the Poe story of the same name, was premiered in 1984 in Barbados. Copeland has written numerous other operas, ballets and instrumental works that have been performed throughout the world by many major organizations including, in 2012, The Cleveland Orchestra.
Steven Mark Kohn (electronic music production) spent the last week of October in northern Arizona with the creative team of his new opera, Riders of the Purple Sage, for which Kohn is the librettist. Joining Kohn were composer Craig Bohmler, director Fenlon Lamb and scenic designer Ed Mell. Emmy award-winning filmmaker Kristin Atwell and her crew invited the creative team to participate in the filming of a documentary, which Atwell has been working on since the earliest stages of the opera’s genesis. The film will eventually chronicle the making of the opera from conception to full production (slated for February 2017, Arizona Opera). The opera has already had two public workshops in Arizona Opera’s studio, at which time the creative team had an opportunity to see and critique their work.
Preparatory Brandon Wang, student of Pam Kelly, won the Lakeland Concerto Competition.
In Memorium Louise Davis Savage (BM ’47, Kraft), died September 12, 2015. She was a career musician, having sung in solo programs, musicals and operas and with many symphony orchestras. She taught classes in public schools, at Andrews School and at the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, Ohio, until shortly before her death. Savage was a longtime choral director, chorister and soloist at The First Presbyterian Church in Willoughby. Norma Lewiston Kullmann (BM ’50, Kraft/ Wheeler) died November 6, 2015, in Lockport, NY. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Niagara Falls since 1955, where she sang in the church choir and served as an elder, a deacon and president of the Rainbow Club. She was also a soloist at Temple Beth El and the First Church of Christian Science in Niagara Falls as well as the Euclid Avenue Methodist Church and Euclid Avenue Temple in Cleveland.
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ABOUT CIM Founded in 1920, the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is one of seven 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.
CIM@SEVERANCE HALL Wednesday, February 3, 2016