Cleveland Institute of Music

The mission of the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is to provide exceptionally talented students from around the world an outstanding and thoroughly professional education in the art of music performance and related musical disciplines. The Institute embraces the legacy of the past and promotes the continuing evolution of music within a supportive and nurturing environment. The Institute also provides rigorous training in programs for gifted precollege musicians and serves as a resource for the community with training for individuals of all ages and abilities.

A guiding principle at the Institute maintains that a liberal arts education contributes to a broad, humanistic perspective and is a vital component of the undergraduate curriculum. Equally important is the faculty’s commitment to incorporating new technologies to complement and enhance the educational program.

The distinguished faculty of the Institute aims to develop the full artistic potential of all its students. Through performance and teaching, the faculty and administration are dedicated to passing along their knowledge and love for this great art and to providing the bridge to an exciting and fulfilling career.

Founded in 1920, the Cleveland Institute of Music maintains its current size of approximately 400 undergraduate and graduate students and 90 full- and part-time faculty members by controlling enrollment through carefully balanced admission policies. In admitting the optimum rather than an unlimited number of students to each performance area, CIM seeks to provide personal, individual attention for each student and to maximize performance opportunities.

The unusually intense performance environment encourages students to develop multifaceted skills that include solo, chamber, orchestral, and operatic literature. This approach leads students to focus on solo expertise as well as to develop the collaborative abilities necessary for small and large ensemble work. The key is access to faculty members and visiting artists in a challenging but supportive atmosphere of private lessons, master classes, repertoire classes, concerts, and recitals.

Orchestral studies are designed to develop and maintain the discipline and skill necessary to make the smoothest possible transition from school to professional life. Regularly scheduled sectional rehearsals and orchestral repertoire classes are conducted by principals of The Cleveland Orchestra. The Institute’s two symphony orchestras present approximately twenty concerts during the academic year, including multiple performances of fully staged operas. These ensembles also provide a vehicle through which student composers may hear and record readings of their works.

The sequence of opera courses is devoted to the principles of theory and practice of the various arts that combine to create an operatic performance. Emphasis is placed on vocal, musical, stylistic, linguistic, and dramatic techniques. Study stresses the application of these elements to role preparation for operas of different historical periods.

CIM is located in University Circle, a cultural, educational, and scientific research center situated approximately 3 miles east of downtown Cleveland. University Circle comprises more than thirty institutions that together constitute one of the largest diversified cultural complexes in the world. Located within easy walking distance of CIM are Case Western Reserve University, where CIM students have access to all facilities and liberal arts course offerings, and Severance Hall, home of The Cleveland Orchestra, the rehearsals of which are open to CIM students by special arrangement. Also easily accessible are numerous other University Circle institutions, such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Western Reserve Historical Society, Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum, and Cleveland Botanical Garden.

Program Facilities

In February 2005, CIM broke ground for a $40-million expansion project to add practice, teaching, and performance space to its facility. The project will provide two major additions and will include a new state-of-the-art recital hall and new façade at its main entrance. The recital hall will seat 250 people in an acoustically outstanding space for recitals and chamber music. This portion of the project is scheduled for completion in fall 2007. Another addition, now completed, included practice rooms, teaching studios, audio recording and distance learning studios, administrative space, and a new student lounge, complete with outdoor patio.

Cleveland Institute of Music’s main building includes a concert hall, classrooms, teaching studios, practice rooms, a library, a eurhythmics studio, an orchestra library, an opera theater workshop and studio, and a music store. Through connection of the entire facility to Case Western Reserve University’s fiber-optic computer network, CIM also provides wireless Internet access as well as a Technology Learning Center that enables students to become aware of and accustomed to the ways in which music and technology go hand in hand.

The library contains 52,257 books and scores, 110 periodical subscriptions, and an audiovisual collection of 22,788 items. Through the Institute’s relationship with Case, CIM students have access to additional library resources, especially those at the Case Music Department. Case holdings include more than 2,471,504 volumes, 2,548,156 microforms, and 20,265 current serial subscriptions. A shared online system with Case Western Reserve permits the viewing of Case library holdings from online public catalogs in the CIM library. Through CIM’s relationship with Case, there is access to OhioLink, a statewide information network. There is also wireless computer access in the library.

The residence hall, Cutter House, is adjacent to CIM’s main building. In addition to the usual amenities, each room has fiber-optic computer access. Also adjacent to CIM’s main building is the Hazel Road Annex, an additional facility for individual practice, chamber music, rehearsal and coaching, master classes, and class recitals.

Faculty

The distinguished faculty includes the principals and many section players of The Cleveland Orchestra, with which CIM has a close relationship. All collegiate-level music instruction is conducted by CIM faculty members and not by teaching assistants. Liberal arts, music education, and music history courses are taught by the faculty of Case Western Reserve University.

Application Procedures

Deadline--freshmen and transfers: December 1. Notification date--freshmen and transfers: April 1. Required: essay, high school transcript, college transcript(s) for transfer students, 2 letters of recommendation, audition, SAT I or ACT test scores. Recommended: minimum 3.0 high school GPA, interview. Auditions held 1 time on campus; recorded music is permissible as a substitute for live auditions with approval from the department and videotaped performances are permissible as a substitute for live auditions with approval from the department.

Cleveland Institute of Music

Program Facilities

Faculty

Application Procedures

Undergraduate Contact