Support from the Kulas Foundation has made it possible for the Cleveland Institute of Music to bring countless world-class musicians from across the globe to share their artistry with the Cleveland community and join with CIM students as they create the future of classical music.
Here are the exceptional visiting artists gracing our stages and classrooms during the Spring 2024 semester:
Tuesday, January 23 at 12:00pm | Kulas Hall
Hailed by the American Academy of Art & Letters for music that displays “inexhaustible imagination, wit, expressive range and originality,” composer Tom Cipullo’s works are performed regularly throughout the United States and with increasing frequency internationally. The winner of a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 2013 Arts & Letters Award from the American Academy, Mr. Cipullo has received commissions from Music of Remembrance, the Music Academy of the West, SongFest, Joy in Singing, the Cecilia Chorus, the New York Festival of Song, the Mirror Visions Ensemble, Sequitur, Cantori New York, tenor Paul Sperry, pianist Martin Katz, mezzo-soprano Mary Ann Hart, the Five Boroughs Music Festival, pianist Jeanne Golan, soprano Martha Guth, soprano Hope Hudson, the Walt Whitman Project, baritone Jesse Blumberg, and many others. He has received multiple fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and awards from the Liguria Study Center (Bogliasco, Italy), the Fundacion Valparaiso (Spain), the Oberpfaelzer Kuenstlerhaus (Bavaria). The New York Times has called his music “intriguing and unconventional,” and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has called him “an expert in writing for the voice.” Other honors include the Minneapolis Pops New Orchestral Repertoire Award (2009) for Sparkler, the National Association of Teachers of Singing Art Song Award (2008) for the song-cycle Of a Certain Age, and the Phyllis Wattis Prize for song composition from the San Francisco Song Festival for Drifts & Shadows (2006).
Saturday, January 27 at 3:00pm | Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
Sunday, January 28 at 3:00pm | Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
Critically acclaimed stage director Kathryn Frady has worked throughout the United States, Europe, and South Africa. As a leading pioneer in producing opera in alternative spaces, Kathryn's recent production of Gallantry was praised by Arts Knoxville, who wrote, “Kudos to Stage Director Kathryn Frady for an accomplishment that reminded the audience what theatre is all about.” Kathryn was also named among the "10 Women who make a Difference in Knoxville" by the Knoxville Mercury newspaper. In 2019, A Step Ahead Foundation recognized Kathryn as a Trailblazer in her field.
Saturday, January 27 at 3:00pm | Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
Sunday, January 28 at 3:00pm | Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
Kamna Gupta is an American Prize-winning conductor experienced in operatic, orchestral, and choral repertoires. Several world premieres mark the upcoming 2023-24 season: Ms. Gupta leads the Trinity Church Wall Street Choirs and NOVUS in Luna Pearl Woolf's new oratorio Number Our Days (part of the inaugural season of New York's newest venue, the Perelman Performing Arts Center), and she returns to Spoleto Festival USA to conduct the world premiere of Ruinous Gods (Chaker / Shlesinger). In addition to these, Ms. Gupta makes her Washington National Opera debut as the cover conductor for Songbird, and she returns to Tapestry Opera to conduct Rocking Horse Winner, which she recorded to much acclaim during the pandemic and which was featured on CBC's Music's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.
Tuesday, January 30 at 11:30am | Kulas Hall
Wednesday, January 31 at 7:30pm | Kulas Hall
Kazem Abdullah works internationally and excels at reaching newer and diverse audiences, conducting concerts and operas in a wide variety of styles and formats.
Kazem Abdullah conducted four modern operas in 2022: The Life and Times of Malcolm X and The Central Park Five by composer Anthony Davis as well as the world premiere of Castor and Patience composed by Greg Spears with a libretto by Track K Smith and Omar composed by Rhiannon Giddons. Among his recent orchestral credits are the Oregon, Indianapolis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati symphony orchestras. In addition to his symphony engagements, he recently conducted an opera Gala for the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the American premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s opera Brokeback Mountain with the New York City Opera, Tosca for Seattle Opera, and Hänsel und Gretel for Cape Town Opera.
Saturday, February 10 at 4:00pm | Room 217
Sunday, February 11 at 2:00pm | Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez was born in Mexico City in 1964 and now lives in the New York tundra, where he is a Professor of Composition at the Eastman School of Music. He studied with Jacob Druckman, Martin Bresnick, Steven Mackey and Henri Dutilleux at Yale, Princeton and Tanglewood, respectively. He has received many of the standard awards in the field (e.g. Barlow Prize, Guggenheim, Fulbright, Koussevitzky, Fromm, American Academy of Arts and Letters.) He likes machines with hiccups and spiders with missing legs, looks at Paul Klee's Notebooks everyday, and tries to use the same set of ears to listen to Bach, Radiohead, or Ligeti.
Thursday, February 15 at 7:30pm | Mixon Hall
Brenda Justice celebrates 25 years with the Akron Symphony Orchestra, as the coordinator of choral activities for the Akron Symphony Chorus and Gospel Meets Symphony. Justice has performed throughout the Akron community and many surrounding cities, which include Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, DC; New York; Miami, Florida; and Nassau, Bahamas. Justice has performed in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess as the Strawberry Woman and Titanic: The Musical as Edith Corse Evans. Justice has been a guest soloist with the Akron Symphony on countless occasions with the most recent for Akron Symphony’s Gospel Meets Symphony’s 30th anniversary on February 10, 2024.
Justice is the founding president of Power of a Dream Sisters Helping Sisters Ministries, Inc. for 15 years. They are advocates against domestic violence. In September, Justice was presented with the Woman of the Year Award for Creativity from the Summit County Historical Society.
Thursday, February 15 at 7:30pm | Mixon Hall
Kenny McCorvey is a recording artist and freelance musician. McCorvey is well-known as a pianist with his versatile style and distinct rhythmic eloquence on the keys. McCorvey retired from the Canton Public Schools as a music teacher after 30 years of service. Since 2013, he has been the organist, pianist, and choir director at Antioch Baptist Church in Akron, Ohio. He is currently an accompanist for Kent State University’s music department. McCorvey is noted for his recording Legacy, a contemporary jazz compilation. McCorvey works with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and music director Christopher Wilkins on special projects as an assistant director and performer, and he is currently on the Gospel Meets Symphony artistic committee.
Thursday, February 22 at 7:30pm | Mixon Hall
Friday, February 23 at 3:30pm | Mixon Hall
The Dalí Quartet is acclaimed for bringing Latin American quartet repertoire to an equal standing alongside the Classical and Romantic canon. Tours of its Classical Roots, Latin Soul programming have reached enthusiastic audiences across the U.S., Canada and South America. Its fresh approach has been sought out by distinguished series in New York, Toronto, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle, San Juan and countless communities beyond. The quartet has been called upon for return engagements at the National Gallery of Art, Friends of Chamber Music in Portland, Chamber Music at Beall, and the SA’OAXACA International Music Festival in México among others. Upcoming appearances include the Bravo!Vail Music Festival, Virginia Arts Festival, Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts and Maverick Concerts and the east coast premiere of Anna Clyne’s Quarter Days, Concerto for String Quartet and Chamber Orchestra, co-commissioned by the Harrisburg Symphony.
Saturday, February 24 at 3:30pm | Mixon Hall
Korean-born American pianist Min Kwon excels in a versatile career that encompasses concerti, solo recitals, and chamber music appearances, while in high demand around the world as pedagogue, arts advocate, and administrator. She has held professional engagements in over 60 countries on seven continents and all 50 U.S. states.
Professor of Piano at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University since 2002, Dr. Kwon is also the founder and director of the Center for Musical Excellence (CME), a non-profit dedicated to mentoring and supporting gifted young musicians. To date, CME has awarded 12 international performing arts grants, each up to $10,000, and currently features 20 young artists on the 2019 CME Young Artists Roster. CME’s alumni/ae list includes more than 100 young artists from 22 countries. As Artistic Director of Music Made Here, a concert series inaugurated in 2018, and CME in Harding Homes, Kwon brings world class talent to intimate venues. She has also served as Co-Director of Vienna ConcertoFest, a two-week festival that provides extraordinary opportunities for young artists to appear as soloists with the Viennese International Orchestra in prestigious venues in Austria.
Tuesday, February 27 at 1:30pm | Mixon Hall
Acclaimed worldwide for his profound musicianship and technical mastery, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a unique and distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster.
As a concerto soloist he appears regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including the Berlin Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, London Philharmonic and Zurich Tonhalle orchestras. He gives recitals every season in major musical centres, and plays with many of the world’s foremost chamber orchestras, including the Australian, Mahler, Norwegian, Scottish, Zurich and St Paul Chamber Orchestras, as well as period-instrument ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Unusually, he also directs chamber orchestras from the cello in classical programmes.
Tuesday, February 27 at 7:30pm | Severance Music Center
Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL), Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria (OFGC). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.
Slatkin has received six Grammy awards and 35 nominations. His latest recordings are Jeff Beal’s The Paper Lined Shack on Supertrain Records and Slatkin Conducts Slatkin, a compilation of pieces written by generations of his musical family, including three of his own compositions, on Naxos Records. Naxos has also recently remastered and reissued audiophile editions of his recordings of Gershwin’s and Rachmaninov’s orchestral works (with the SLSO) for Vox.
Sunday, March 24 at 7:30pm | Mixon Hall
Wild Up is a contemporary music ensemble. We are committed to creating visceral, thought-provoking concerts and happenings. Our programs are eclectic studies of people, places, and ideas. We believe that music is a catalyst for shared experiences and that a concert is a place for challenging, exciting, and igniting the community around us.
Learn more about our members here.
Thursday, March 28 at 7:30pm | Kulas Hall
Multiple GRAMMY-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center and Artistic Adviser of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. She was recently named one of the “Fifty Great Conductors,” past and present, by Gramophone Magazine, and has been hailed for having ‘Toscanini’s tight control over ensemble, Walter’s affectionate balancing of inner voices, Stokowski’s gutsy showmanship, and a controlled frenzy worthy of Bernstein.” Upon her appointment as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major American ensemble.
Tuesday, April 9 | 12:00pm | Mixon Hall
The pianist Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc. His passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for Wigmore Hall, London; The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; 92nd Street Y, New York; and the Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin. He curates an annual series of song recitals – Julius Drake and Friends – in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London. Julius holds a Professorship at Graz University in Austria for Music and the Performing Arts, where he has a class for song pianists. He is also a Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses worldwide.
Monday, April 8 at 7:30pm | Mixon Hall
Titus Underwood is Principal Oboe of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the 2021 recipient of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence award and a 2021 Midsouth Regional Emmy® winner for his work on « We Are Nashville ». Prior to the NSO, he was Acting Associate Principal of Utah Symphony, and has performed as guest principal of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Miami Symphony Orchestra, and Florida Orchestra. A sought-after freelance performer, Titus has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony, and San Diego Symphony. Titus regularly plays principal oboe in Chineke!, the Gateways Music Festival, and Bellingham Festival of Music.
Monday, April 8 at 7:30pm | Mixon Hall
Hailed by the New York Times as a "virtuoso pianist," Artina McCain has a built a formidable career as a performer, educator and speaker. As a recitalist, her credits include performances at Wigmore Hall and Barbican Centre in London, Weill Hall at Carnegie and Merkin Hall in New York City and more. Other highlights include guest appearances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, she was the mistress of ceremony for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Dedicated to promoting the works of Black and other underrepresented composers, McCain curates Underrepresented Composers Concerts for multiple arts organizations. She is an American Prize winner for her solo piano recordings of these works and won a Gold Global Music Award for her recent album project Heritage. In 2021, Hal Leonard published her transcriptions of Twenty-Four Traditional African American Folk Songs.
Wednesday, April 10 | 10:00am | Mixon Hall
American tenor Matthew Polenzani is one of the most gifted and distinguished lyric tenors of his generation. His elegant musicianship, innate sense of style, dramatic commitment, and timeless artistry have established his continued presence at leading operatic, concert, and recital venues worldwide.
Tuesday, April 16 at 7:30pm | Severance Music Center
Sarah Hicks's versatile and vibrant musicianship has secured her place as an in-demand conductor across an array of genres, and as an educator, arranger, Emmy-winning producer, writer and speaker committed to creating connections through music. Her career has seen collaborations with diverse artists, from Hilary Hahn and Dmitiri Hvorostovsky to Rufus Wainwright, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson; during the summer of 2011 she toured with Sting as conductor of his Symphonicities Tour. Her passion for cross-genre partnerships led to a 2019 album with rap artist Dessa and the Minnesota Orchestra, with whom she holds a titled position; in 2021 she collaborated with gamer DrLupo for an innovative live-play project for Intel Gaming.
Wednesday, April 24 at 6:30pm | Mixon Hall
Beatrice Rana has been shaking the international classical music world, arousing admiration and interest from concert presenters, conductors, critics and audiences internationally.
Beatrice performs at the world’s most esteemed concert halls and festivals including the Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall in London, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, KKL Lucerne, Cologne Philharmonie, Munich’s Gasteig, Prinzregententheater and Herkulessaal, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Tonhalle Zurich, Philharmonie de Luxembourg, Milan’s Società dei Concerti, Lucerne Festival, BBC Proms, Ferrara Musica, Verbier Festival, Rheingau Festival, Bad Kissinger Sommer, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Lugano’s LAC, Stresa Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron Festival, Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, Bucarest Enescu Festival, Mostly Mozart, Boston’s Symphony Hall and Celebrity Series, Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Hall and Hollywood Bowl, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.
Thursday, April 25 | 12:30pm | Mixon Hall
Dorian Bandy is a musicologist and performer specializing in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. He is the author of Mozart the Performer, which proposes a model for Mozart interpretation based on historical studies of Mozart's activities as a pianist and improviser and analytic accounts of his sonatas, concertos, symphonies, and operas. Dorian's research interests also include Beethoven, German instrumental music c.1660-1720, and Lieder c.1780-1840, as well as various issues in aesthetics and the philosophy of music (including the work concept, meme theory, musical meaning, and the philosophy of historical performance), and philosophical artworks more broadly (especially Stephen Sondheim's musicals). His writings on these and related topics have appeared in publications ranging from leading academic journals to blogs such as violinist.com and aestheticsforbirds.com. He is a member of the Re:Enlightenment collective.
Friday, April 26 at 12:30pm | Mixon Hall
Victoria Chiang has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America, Europe and Asia. Her most recent recording of the viola concertos of Stamitz and Hoffmeister was released by Naxos to critical acclaim. Other recordings include Pleyel Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola also on Naxos as well as a recording of Shostakovich and Roslavets Viola sonatas. She has performed as soloist with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, The National Gallery of Art Orchestra, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Romanian State Philharmonics of Constantsa and Tirgu Muresh, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Acadiana Symphony (Lafayette, LA) and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Chiang has collaborated as guest artist with Guarneri, Takacs, Tokyo, American, Arianna and Pro Arte String Quartets, and with members of the Emerson, Cleveland, and Juilliard String Quartets. She has been a regular guest artist at the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, a frequent guest on the Bargemusic series, and has given solo performances in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall and at the XXV, XXXVIII and XL International Viola Congresses.