Never mind the cold temperatures. At Cleveland Institute of Music, spring has sprung.
The spring concert season, that is.
CIM has announced its musical plans for spring 2025, revealing a calendar full of programs around the region.
“CIM is thrilled to again offer the community such a strong slate of concerts in the new year,” says Scott Harrison, CIM’s Executive Vice President & Provost. “With this lineup, we’re reminding Northeast Ohio that we are truly Cleveland’s Institute of Music.”
CIM patrons in 2025 can look ahead to substantial offerings from the CIM Orchestra, CIM Opera Theater, and CIM New Music Ensemble, as well as new performances within the ongoing Perspectives and Insiders series.
CIM’s Mixon Hall will remain the school’s primary venue during the renovation of Kulas Hall. Meanwhile, many events typically held in Kulas Hall will take CIM musicians and guests into other venues around Northeast Ohio including Severance Music Center, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Lorain County Community College, and the Maltz Performing Arts Center. Notably, CIM Opera Theater will return to Playhouse Square.
Among the highlights:
- Three appearances by the CIM Orchestra at Severance Music Center, with conductors Tito Muñoz, Sameer Patel, and JoAnn Falletta.
- New productions by CIM Opera Theater of Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters, at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, at Playhouse Square.
- CIM New Music Ensemble programs featuring the music of Claude Baker and former CIM Composition Department Head Margaret Brouwer, on the occasion of her 85th birthday.
- A performance by the Gateways Brass Collective highlighting CIM’s renewed affiliation with the Gateways Music Festival.
- A benefit performance by members of CIM’s Black Student Union.
- Four Insiders series chamber music concerts by CIM faculty members.
A detailed list of events is below. Most events are free with tickets required, but a few select performances entail paid admission. All tickets are available now. For more information or to order tickets to spring 2025 season events, visit cim.edu/events.
CIM thanks its spring 2025 season sponsor, Eaton Corporation. All visiting artists, including guests with the CIM Orchestra, are generously supported by the Kulas Foundation.
CIM ORCHESTRA
Three of CIM Orchestra’s four concerts this spring will take place at Severance Music Center, beginning Jan. 29 with guest conductor Tito Muñoz, continuing Feb. 25 with guest conductor Sameer Patel, and concluding March 26 with Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor JoAnn Falletta. One additional CIM Orchestra performance, on Feb. 13, takes place at Stocker Arts Center at Lorain County Community College, led by Associate Conductor Jake Taniguchi (GD ’24).
CIM OPERA THEATER
CIM Opera Theater turns its attention Feb. 1 and 2 to something quite different: Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters, with guest conductor Rakefet Hak, in a new arrangement conceived for Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The season concludes in dramatic fashion on April 23 and 25 with a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square, directed by CIM Opera Theater interim artistic director JJ Hudson, led by CIM Opera Theater music director Harry Davidson, and featuring guest artists Andrew Allen Hiers as the Commendatore and Bryan Myer (MM ’14, Southern) in the title role. In between, on March 1 and 2, the company will present its annual Opera Scenes program, directed by Jeremy Paul, in Mixon Hall. CIM Opera Theater is generously supported by the John P. Murphy Foundation.
CIM NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
CIM’s New Music Ensemble, directed by Composition Department Head Keith Fitch, will convene Feb. 16 to celebrate the life and music of Margaret Brouwer, CIM’s former Head of Composition, who turns 85 this year. The group will perform her Shattered Glass, Mountains of the Moon, and Justice March. Less than two months later, the group gathers again to highlight the music of Claude Baker, professor emeritus of composition at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. The CIM New Music Ensemble is generously supported by the Roy Minoff Family Fund.
PERSPECTIVES AND INSIDERS SERIES
CIM’s two named concert series start Feb. 4 with the Gateways Brass Collective, on the Perspectives series. This event signals the renewal of an affiliation between CIM and the Gateways Music Festival, the Rochester-based organization connecting and supporting professional classical musicians of African descent. The Insiders series features four concerts by members of CIM’s illustrious chamber music faculty: violin faculty Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler performs alongside her son, Daniel Kaler (BM ’20, Kosower), a cellist in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Feb. 18); a celebration of the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth by piano department head Antonio Pompa-Baldi (March 21); and the always highly anticipated Carolyn Warner and Friends (April 15). In between, on April 4, comes a recital by guest clarinet faculty Mariam Adam, a member of Imani Winds.
CIM ACADEMY
The Conservatory isn’t the only source of fine music at CIM. The school’s pre-college training program also presents high-level performances, all of which are free and open to the public.
