Issues in Music Education

• 2008 Commencement - Introduction and commencement address, Jerome Lowenthal, May 17 2008

• 2008 Commencement - Kay Hardesty Logan, honorary doctoral degree, May 17 2008

• 2008 Commencement - Evelyn Freeman Roberts, Distinguished Alumni Award, May 17 2008

• 2007 Commencement - Introduction of Gary Graffman (CIM President David Cerone)

• Gary Graffman, CIM Commencement Address, May 21, 2007

• 2007 Commencement - Introduction of Franz Welser-Möst (CIM President David Cerone)

• Franz Welser-Möst, CIM Commencement Address, May 21, 2007

• Richard W. Pogue, CIM Commencement Address, May 20, 2006

• 2005 Commencement - Welcoming Remarks and Introduction of Pierre Boulez (CIM President David Cerone)

• 2005 Commencement - Welcoming Remarks and Introduction of Pierre Boulez (CIM President David Cerone)

• 2005 Commencement Address (Pierre Boulez)

• Robert J. Harth, CIM Commencement Address, May 17th, 2003

• David Cerone, President of The Cleveland Institute of Music, addressed the City Club of Cleveland in October 1999

• John Mack, CIM Commencement Address, May 23, 1992

Introduction and commencement address by Jerome Lowenthal

May 17, 2008

Jerome Lowenthal has been a member of the piano faculty at The Juilliard School since 1991. Born in Philadelphia, he studied with Olga Samaroff, William Kapell and Edward Steuermann at The Juilliard School and Alfred Cortot at the École Normale de Musique in Paris on a Fulbright Grant. He has received prizes in international competitions of Brussels, Bolzano and Darmstadt. He has appeared with major orchestras in the U.S., including the Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, National, Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis and Minnesota Orchestras. Mr. Lowenthal has premiered solo music by Rochberg, Capanna and Reise, as well as Rorem's Piano Concerto No. 3. He has given duo recitals with Denis Brott, Itzhak Perlman, Ronit Amir and Ursula Oppens. A regular participant in chamber music festivals in Sitka, Alaska; Montreal; and Santa Barbara's Music Academy of the West, Mr. Lowenthal also has an extensive list of recorded solo concerto and chamber music repertoire and gave the New York premiere of Liszt's recently discovered Piano Concerto No. 3 with the New York Philharmonic. He performed with the CIM Orchestra at Severance Hall in 2004.

You can hear the audio of both the introduction and Jerome Lowenthal's commencement address by clicking the 'Play' button on the audio player shown below:

View Video Of This Commencement Address:

Jerome Lowenthal's commencement address was also recorded for online viewing, and is available here.

Kay Hardesty Logan

May 17, 2008

Kay Hardesty Logan - honorary doctoral degree.

Kay Hardesty Logan is a lifelong supporter of the arts and the ASTA 2008 Arts Philanthropist of the Year. A professional flutist, special educator, author and teacher/trainer, she has served on the Eastman School of Music Board of Managers and on the boards of the American String Teachers Association, Chamber Music America, Chautauqua Institution and Very Special Arts. She developed and funded a University of Maryland project providing outreach and professional development opportunities for music and performance majors. Ms. Logan funds the Warren Summer Music School program. She created a music program in Quito, Ecuador serving indigent and disabled youth; and Camp Hope Connections, involving music classes in Jackson, Mississippi and Camp Hope students exchanging pictures, videos and letters in both languages. At Chautauqua she endowed the Georges Barrere flute studio and Mischakoff/Taylor Concertmaster Chair; and created the Effron Conducting Fellowship, Artist Teacher award for the Department of Dance and the Logan Chamber Music Series. At Penn State Erie, she provided support to create Logan House, a setting for arts discussions, dinners and performances; and created and funded the Music at Noon Series. She developed the "Artist Teacher Award" for the American String Teachers Association and the Kay A. Logan Award in Chamber Music at the ENCORE School for Strings.

You can hear the audio by clicking the 'Play' button on the audio player shown below:

Evelyn Freeman Roberts

May 17, 2008

Evelyn Freeman Roberts - Distinguished Alumni Award.

Evelyn Freeman Roberts (B.M., 1941, piano) has enjoyed more than 70 years as a professional musician, working in the entertainment industry as a composer/arranger, conductor and performer for television, recordings, movies and stage with many noted celebrities. As a teen, she was a member of the Freeman Family Trio (with flutist father Ernest and violinist brother Ernest Jr.). The group later expanded to 20+ young musicians, becoming the Freeman Ensemble. Members of that ensemble formed the nucleus of the Evelyn Freeman Swing Band, which later became the first all-black band in Navy history. Mrs. Roberts toured as an arranger for "Wings Over Jordan," an a cappella choir that was the first regular programming of black music on network radio. With her late husband Tommy Roberts, she founded the Young Saints Scholarship Foundation, which she directs. Incorporated in 1967, the program provides free training and work experience in the performing arts for "at risk" youth. Mrs. Roberts speaks frequently about her remarkable life, the contributions of African-American composers (circa 1920s through 1940s) and the history of the piano.

You can hear the audio by clicking the 'Play' button on the audio player shown below:

Introduction of Gary Graffman

May 21, 2007

Gary Graffman, celebrated pianist and recently retired president of the Curtis Institute of Music, spoke at the Cleveland Institute of Music's Commencement ceremony, held Monday, May 21, 2007. Mr. Graffman has been a major figure in the music world since winning the prestigious Leventritt Award in 1949. Mr. Graffman began playing piano at age three, when his father, a violinist, gave him a small fiddle. The instrument proved too cumbersome, and piano lessons were substituted, with eventual return to the violin anticipated. The young Graffman's affinity for the piano soon became evident, and at age seven he was accepted by the Curtis Institute of Music to study with Isabelle Vengerova – exactly 50 years before being named the school's director. After graduation from Curtis, he worked for several years with Vladimir Horowitz and at the Marlboro Music Festival during the summers with Rudolf Serkin. He has enjoyed an active career as a concert artist, concerto soloist with the world's great orchestras and as a chamber music collaborator with the most renowned artists of our time. Mr. Graffman first joined the Curtis piano faculty in 1980 and became director in 1986. He was appointed president in 1995 and remains active as a teacher and piano and chamber music coach.

You can hear the audio of both the introduction and Gary Graffman's remarks by clicking the 'Play' button on the audio player shown below:

Gary Graffman, CIM Commencement Address

May 21, 2007

Thank you, David. Thanks, everybody. It's a pleasure to be here.

It's a great pleasure to be here today, but I must confess that it's also a little scary. This harks back to the many times, starting over 50 years ago (I'm now horrified to realize) that I visited Cleveland very often for the purpose of playing with the orchestra, meaning George Szell.

I'm sure you all know that George Szell had a fearsome reputation. It was said that his bite was even worse than his bark. So I always came to Cleveland with more than the normal apprehensions. Even the name "Severance Hall" had an ominous ring. And every time I entered the backstage portals, I imagined I could hear the humming of a guillotine warming up in the conductor's room.

George Szell was completely intolerant of anything he deemed wrongdoing. This was particularly true when a transgression concerned music. Once, jokingly, somebody who knew him very well – enough to dare it – mentioned to him that he treated the interpretation of one short phrase of music as a matter of life or death. "But don't you understand?," he replied in utter seriousness, "It is."

The older I get, the more I appreciate the significance of this remark. Particularly in our current world of shortcuts and sound bites and junk mail and disposable nearly everything, it's crucial to adhere to the highest standards of making music. Of course, one should always try to adhere to the highest standards of doing anything. But if being a musician is your chosen profession, then this is where you must invest your most passionate energy. Please don't let becoming professional mean that you also become cynical.

The business of music now looms ahead for you, and there's no question that you'll have to make some compromises. But you must always bear in mind that, in order to be a real artist, the necessity of making music as if it's a matter of life and death must the single most important thing you do.

I always remember a comment made by Isaac Stern when he spoke to our Curtis graduating class a number of years ago. This is something that cannot be repeated too often: "One of God's greatest blessings is the ability to make a musical phrase."

This talent is given to very few people on earth. I sometimes wonder if we realize how fortunate we are. I hope you will continue to enjoy and treasure your remarkable gifts.

Good luck, and congratulations to you all.

Introduction of Franz Welser-Möst

May 21, 2007

Mr. Welser-Möst is in his fifth season as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra. Under his direction, the Orchestra has toured extensively and to critical acclaim. His rise to international fame as a conductor began in 1986 when he made his debut with the London Philharmonic; he was appointed music director in 1990, a position he held for six years. He performs regularly with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. He also appears with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and has been a frequent conductor of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra since the ensemble's founding. Mr. Welser-Möst became general music director of the Zurich Opera in September 2005 and has made a commitment to the Opera that extends through 2011, having served as the Opera's principal conductor from 2002 to 2005 and music director from 1995 to 2002. In Cleveland, he participates in community concerts and educational programs and is involved with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. Mr. Welser-Möst's Cleveland Orchestra concerts during the 2006-07 season include major works central to the orchestral repertoire, among them symphonies by Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky.

You can hear the audio of both the introduction and Franz Welser-Möst's remarks by clicking the 'Play' button on the audio player shown below:

Franz Welser-Möst, CIM Commencement Address

May 21, 2007

Good morning, and thank you, David.

I know that the Cleveland Institute of Music is an institution which goes for uncompromising excellence, like the institution I represent just across the road. I want to pay my respect to Gary Graffman, whom I have admired for a long time, but it happens sometimes in the careers of musicians – we met today for the first time. And I want to pay my respect and congratulations to all the students here who will receive their degrees today. You have made it further than I have. Because I left university without a degree. There were several reasons for that. But it leads me to a question which I want to raise today. The entire world discusses over and over again our education systems. And I think it's worth asking what that means. Do we teach young people in our institutions or do we educate them?

These are two different things. We can teach knowledge. Education has to do with something else – not only knowledge. Recently, not long ago, I read a line by a philosopher which is, "Education, one could say, is appropriate understanding." And I want to take a little time to go deeper into that sentence.

Education means building something. In German, actually, we use the same word for education as building. Building ourselves as human beings. The question is, what leads us from knowledge? We do live in a time when we collect knowledge, constantly – basically 24 hours a day – from the media, and so on and so on. What leads us from knowledge to education? I think it has to do with tying the knots of knowledge together so we get a network of knowledge. And that builds our education. And when this philosopher says "appropriate understanding," this is a little hint to what education can be. Education is not collecting knowledge.

I'll give you a little example: I was very amused by a telephone interview with a music journalist, who asked me about my view on Bruckner 5. And I tried to explain to him that where this piece stands – and it starts with the number five, which in Christian mythology stands for faith – and starting with B-flat major, and talking about all this, what it means. The reply of the journalist was, "Isn't it all about the counterpoint in that piece?" That's exactly what I'm talking about. We have tools we can use, and for a composer one of the tools is counterpoint. But that is not the meaning of the piece. And when this philosopher says education, one could say, is "appropriate understanding," then he hints at something which, for me as a musician, has been extremely important and what I want to tell all my young musical colleagues here on the stage – it leads us to humility and devotion.

Music is about communication. The question is, do we communicate our own emotions, which we probably impose on the music, or do we try to find our way to build a relationship with the masterpiece which is in front of us? And that meets again humility and devotion. To be a musician can be a job. But it can be also a call. And that's what I believe in, that reflecting on all the knowledge we gather over the decades in our lives as a musician has to lead to appropriate understanding. And I think any institution which works with young people should try not only to teach them knowledge, but actually to educate them or lead them towards education; towards also self-education.

I'm honored to be here and I look forward to an ongoing, longstanding relationship between the two great institutions – The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Thank you very much.

Richard W. Pogue, CIM Commencement Address,

May 20, 2006
Richard W. Pogue

2005 Commencement - Welcoming Remarks and Introduction of Pierre Boulez (CIM President David Cerone)

May 7, 2005
David Cerone

Distinguished guests, members of the graduating class of 2005, trustees, faculty, alumni, parents and friends, it is indeed an honor to stand before you and warmly welcome you to the 80th commencement exercises of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

In a recently-published New York Times Sunday Magazine article and in his book titled The World is Flat - A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Thomas L. Friedman postulates that there are no longer any obstacles to globalization. The high-speed, fiber data transmission infrastructure laid down during the dot-com boom of the 1990s, and the advent of universally accepted communication standards and software platforms, have made it possible for, to borrow from the Times review of Mr. Friedman's book, ''intellectual work to be transmitted to intellectual workers anywhere on earth.'' And we are rapidly moving forward again into yet another paradigm shift: the ''anywhere, anytime,'' wireless revolution.

While this is certainly food for deep thought about our own, and our nation's future place in the world, it occurred to me that, for we musicians, the world has never been round! Certainly, communication among musicians has always followed closely the march of technology over the centuries. One need only think about out lessons in music history and the evolution of local, regional, national and international styles in composition and in performance. And how quickly the music profession recognized and harnessed, early on, the potential for modern technology to enhance the creating, performing and studying of our art.

Today, we are so very fortunate to enjoy collaboration and collegiality with musicians all over the world, and CIM's annually enrolling a significant cohort of international students bears witness to the global nature of great music-making in the 21st century.

During your tenure at CIM, you have profited from a multi-ethnic and international student body in a setting that has fostered interaction, collaboration and friendship. Many of the members of our graduating class have engaged in outreach activity, in efforts to share with various communities, locally and nationally, the joy of music making and music's power as a means of communication like no other.

As you move out into the wider world beyond these walls to begin your career journey, we, the faculty, hope that you will keep the image of the ''flat world'' we inhabit as an important part of your own personal vision for a life in music. We hope that you will continue to reach out, with open mind and heart, to willingly give and eagerly receive information, insight, creativity, friendship and passion for the art - locally, nationally and globally - as truly great musicians have done for eons. For great musicians will tell you that it is only by staying connected to the world that you can find completeness and fulfillment in the practice of our great art.

With Cleveland Orchestra concerts, for which he is serving as guest conductor, and here today at CIM today, we in Cleveland are pleased - I would say blessed - and honored to be playing a part in the worldwide celebration of Pierre Boulez's 80th birthday. We also celebrate an important anniversary in this world-renowned musician's association with our city: forty years ago last month, Pierre Boulez first stood on the stage of Severance Hall in his professional American orchestra debut. On March 11, 1965, Mr. Boulez conducted The Cleveland Orchestra in a program of music by Rameau, Debussy, Stravinsky, as well as the American premiere of his own work, Figures, Doubles, Prismes.

Born in Montbrison, Loire, in 1925, Pierre Boulez - composer, conductor, educator - is among the seminal figures in music of the past 50-plus years. Knowing that he considers himself a composer who conducts, rather than the reverse, I shall nevertheless begin by saying that, at first, Mr. Boulez conducted in Holland and Germany, and concurrently served as guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He was then named music director of the New York Philharmonic (1971-77) and chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1971-75), while serving in Cleveland during the interim between the directorships of George Szell and Lorin Maazel.

In 1972, French President Georges Pompidou offered Mr. Boulez the directorship of a state-sponsored research institute in Paris, the Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustic/Music, better known by its acronym, IRCAM. In 1991, Mr. Boulez stepped down from his position as director of IRCAM to devote more time to composing and conducting. He maintained his ties to IRCAM, however, by accepting the title of honorary director. In addition to serving as principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony, and regular guest-conducting appearances in Berlin, Cleveland, London, Paris and Vienna, he has overseen an annual musical season with the Ensemble InterContemporain, co-founded by him in 1976 and for which he now serves as honorary president.

Pierre Boulez and The Cleveland Orchestra have enjoyed a long and distinguished association, beginning with Mr. Boulez's American professional orchestra debut in 1965 at the invitation of Cleveland Orchestra music director Geore Szell.

He returned to Cleveland in 1967, again at the invitation of George Szell, and subsequently entered into a five-year guest conducting agreement with The Orchestra. In 1969, Mr. Boulez was appointed the Orchestra's first principal guest conductor and, after Szell's death in July 1970, served as music advisor through the 1971-72 season. To date, he has led the orchestra in more than 200 concerts.

Mr. Boulez's extensive discography encompasses his work with the world's great orchestras, including distinguished series of recordings with Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Vienna. Since 1992 he has recorded exclusively for Deutschegrammophon. His recordings have won 24 Grammy Awards, five with The Cleveland Orchestra. Other recording honors include European Grammophone-, Echo-, and Deutscher Schallplatten Awards. Works recorded are too numerous to mention, but special recognition should be accorded to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, as a 20th century masterpiece with which he has become so very closely identified and one which audiences worldwide want to hear him conduct. And as record sales have shown, they also want to own the several acclaimed recordings he has of the Rite.

It should be noted that Mr. Boulez is no stranger to the operatic repertoire. Notably, he has conducted Parsifal and Tristan and Isolde in Bayreuth, Schoenberg's towering Moses and Aaron at the Salzburg Festival, Debussy's Pelléas and Mélisande at Covent Garden, the French premiere of Berg's Wozzeck at the Paris Opera, and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle at Aix-en-Provence (Eh-zahn-Provonce). Those who heard his Parsifal performances in Cleveland last year at Severance Hall experienced the special affinity he has for the Wagner canon.

Pierre Boulez is esteemed by members of the world's great orchestras as a musician who possesses ''X-ray hearing'' (thank you, Harvey Sachs); who does not use a baton, but rather just the sparest of gestures with hands and arms to achieve virtuosic results; and whose intellectual brilliance, unflappability, sense of humor and kind nature have made him of favorite of orchestra players who find him an inspiring force with whom to collaborate.

Pierre Boulez the composer has had an equally distinguished career.

John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune described him as ''the controversial enfant terrible perpetuel of contemporary music, icon and guru of modernist hardliners, militant enemy of tradition, uncompromising champion of the most complex and difficult music of his time.'' His first compositions date back to the mid-1940s, when he had recently emerged from studies with Olivier Messiaen in Paris, who encouraged his technical acumen, his intensity and also his curiosity about Asian and African as well as European music. (Indeed, Mr. Boulez's music exemplifies the ''flat world'' vision about which I spoke earlier.) Lessons with René Liebowitz, a Schoenberg and Webern scholar, introduced him to twelve-tone composition, which he immediately adapted for his own purposes. His Second Piano Sonata of 1947-48, a work of Beethovenian range and power, marked his creative coming of age.

His exploration and mastery of serial techniques was clear in his renowned Le marteau sans maître for contralto and mixed sextet, whose combination of delectableness and stringency has made it a classic of modern music. Further mastery was exhibited on a larger scale in his brilliant Pli selon Pli of 1957-62, a portrait of the poet Mallarmé in music for soprano and an orchestra rich in percussion.

During the 1970s, his work at IRCAM brought him into contact with computer and electronics technicians at a time when the creative possibilities born of the impact of technology on music performance and composition were beginning to be explored in earnest. IRCAM served as a laboratory for such explorations and gave rise to electronic projects of which . . . explosante-fixe . . . for Midi-flute, two solo flutes, ensemble and electronics is an example. On his electronic music masterpiece, Répons, largely composed between 1981 and '84, Daniel Patrick Sterns of the Philadelphia Inquirer comments that Boulez ''... was not content simply to use unusual juxtapositions of odd instruments; he created sounds never previously known in nature and it's no overstatement to say that they are gorgeous.''

Mr. Boulez has continued his commitment to composition despite a very busy conducting career. Maestro Boulez is currently engaged in a massive project of revisiting his Notations for Piano, a set of 12 short pieces, which he is expanding and reworking into large-scale orchestral movements, five of which we were privileged to hear performed at Severance Hall last week. He was named to the Carnegie Hall Composers Chair, and has served as composer-in-residence at the Lucerne Festival.

As is the case with most great artists, Pierre Boulez is an educator in the most profound sense of the word. Musicians know that great conductors are invariably great teachers, and often a good deal of teaching must emanate from the podium to achieve great performance. Again, I borrow from Harvey Sachs' wonderful Plain Dealer tribute to Mr. Boulez: ''For orchestra musicians and for open-minded audience members, Boulez indeed has a special gift of leveling conceptual mountains that had appeared to be insurmountable, of showing that seemingly 'crooked' rhythms are quite playable and comprehensible and of smoothing out textures that had previously felt irritatingly rough.''

Mr. Boulez is ever generous in passing along his knowledge and wisdom to colleagues and the young. Over the years, he has regularly presided over conducting workshops. He has mentored young composers and performers who have made new music a special career emphasis.

We at CIM have enjoyed Pierre Boulez the educator on several occasions. He has worked with CIM composition students in seminar sessions, and he has conducted the CIM orchestra in reading sessions. Last Saturday, he worked with The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.

Close to Mr. Boulez's heart is his involvement in establishing a new program for teaching the performance of modern solo, ensemble and orchestral music to young people. The program, called the Lucerne Festival Academy, is a collaboration between the Lucerne Festival and Lucerne Conservatory, with Pierre Boulez serving as artistic director.

Acclaimed worldwide, Pierre Boulez has been the recipient of many prizes, including those from the Siemens Foundation/Germany, Leonie Sonning/Denmark, Praemium Imperiale/Japan, Polar Music Prize/Sweden, and Wolf Prize/Israel. In 2000, Mr. Boulez won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award, presented annually by the Grawemeyer Foundation of Louisville, Kentucky, in recognition of outstanding living composers.

Mr. Pogue, distinguished guests, members of the graduating class of the year 2005, trustees, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends, it is a distinct pleasure and an honor for me to present to you Maestro Pierre Boulez.

2005 Commencement Address (Pierre Boulez)

May 7, 2005
Pierre Boulez

Good morning.

In the Paris Conservatoire, when I was finishing my studies in 1944-45, the occasion was not as solemn as this one - not at all. The results of the exams were posted on the wall, according to the date of the exams, progressively during one month. You had to consult this wall to see if you passed or not. And then you were happy, or less happy. But that was it. There was no speech, there was no reunion. Everybody just left discreetly - or less discreetly. As the exams were in May, there was still the whole month of June to go, because the holidays were in the beginning of July. And those were the most interesting classes, because they were not related to any exam at all. It was free. And I remember my teacher, who was the composer Olivier Messiaen, was teaching harmony at this time. He was obliged to go through the process of learning harmony - analyzing Schumann, Schubert, Mozart - until Debussy, the maximum at this time. After the exam, he began to go to Stravinsky and to Bartók. We were discovering that after the studies. It was not the same, but something which was not very familiar; not allowed; and therefore we were all very eager to attend these last classes. So that was my experience.

As you have heard now - I think you cannot miss the point anymore - I am a composer and a conductor. I intended to be a composer, therefore I studied with Olivier Messiaen, but as a conductor I did not intend at all. It happened to me in the current of my life. And I was surprised myself by becoming a conductor, really. I would like to have some words with you about education - what happens in life, education or not. As a composer, certainly I studied harmony; I studied counterpoint. I was a rebel, but a rebel knowing what he was doing, as a matter of fact. I knew my gun, if I say so; I prepared my gun. Enfant terrible, maybe, but enfant terrible terrible, really. Because I knew what I was doing. And that was very interesting for me ... I acquired the feeling, and that's really the thing I remember the most of the teachings of Olivier Messiaen - that nothing ever stops. You have no golden eras. You have no wonderful moments. You have only the time going on, going on, bringing new things. And if you don't go with the novelty, then you are in the dustbin of history, so to speak.

When I think of composing, I say, ''I must go forward. I must go forward.'' It was a special period during the war and immediately after the war - no scores, or very little scores - they were not printed anymore. And they were music which was never preformed because it was either forbidden or not at all on the programs. So we discovered everything at the same time - Bartók, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Varèse, and so on and so forth. All this you had to swallow, and it gave you a kind of will to compete with all that you were discovering. I am still thinking myself, ''Yes, I hear that. I hear that. But will I be on the same level?'' That's also a force which is very important in you, which forces you to be on the same level of the composers you think of as models. Certainly for me, there is something very important. I had, at this time, very strong opinions. I still have strong opinions, as a composer. On the contrary, as a conductor, I did not really. I was not interested in conducting at all.

I was attending a lot of rehearsals with good conductors, and I learned to know the pieces. But I was interested in the pieces and not at all in the conducting. And therefore that was very strange for me. The world of conducting was a world that was far from me. But. Of course, the compositions of my generation was not performed by institutions at this time. I could not accept this situation. I said, ''We compose; we must be performed.'' And who would perform that? The musicians who were students with me in the Conservatoire. And we began to organize concerts of contemporary music with the music which was not performed - new music which was composed - I can give the names of Ligeti, Berio, Stockhausen, and so on and so forth. So all this generation, which was performed for the first time. But of course, generally there was no money... or very little money. I did not cost anything to myself, so I began to conduct small groups. And that is how it began. That's an anecdote, but that's always the case. It was the case between Bruno Walter and Leonard Bernstein, and it was on a smaller scale with me.

The festival of Donaueschinger in Germany in October - that is a weekend devoted totally to contemporary music. The conductor Hans Rosbaud, who was in charge of the festival, was suddenly sick. And the organizer of the festival called me and said, ''You must conduct.'' I said, ''But I don't know the pieces.'' It was three days before the festival. Can you imagine? And I said, ''No, I cannot do it.'' ... ''You will do it, because I have nobody.'' I said, ''Well, if you have nobody ...'' If this type of occasion begins, it forces you to react and say, ''Well, let's try.'' After all, that's the worst circumstances, so if I make it I will be the savior, and if I don't make it they will forget and say, ''Well, you tried hard but you did not succeed. Okay, that's finished.'' But, you know, I succeeded. And I learned, therefore - as much as I learned composition and writing music very thoroughly, I never learned conducting. I learned from the experience. And that was very interesting, because I had a kind of backward trajectory. I began with all the things which were contemporary, and then I began to explore progressively the music I knew, of course, but the music I never thought of conducting. The teaching is different in some cases. The teaching was really solid at the beginning for composing. And the teaching was progressive with the material itself. It gave me the opportunity to think about, what is performing and what is composition?

Performing, you discover and you think you will be spontaneous in performing. That's not true, because when you are genuinely spontaneous, you are trying to find your way in a score, especially in scores which are very long ... like a movement of Mahler; like an opera by Wagner; like a one act - for instance the first act of Götterdämmerung, which is two hours. I was about to say two years... no, two hours. You have to orient yourself. And you cannot be spontaneous only like that. You must acquire the spontaneity. And you will see when you make the experience - you have now a little experience, but you will see - the more you acquire experience, the more you will be spontaneous in the right sense of the word. So you know the thing and you don't need to think each time.

I remember the first time I conducted The Ring, the first year especially. I was saying, ''Here I must go further. Here it should be soft. Here it should be louder. Here I can rest a little bit. Here I must give a lot of energy. And I was constantly thinking, thinking, thinking.. And I could not be really very genuine, because it was exactly the contrary of what it should have been. And then progressively, when I absorbed the score, I could describe. I find that, finally, when you are performing, where you are, you are aware of what has gone already before that, and where you will go. And that's very interesting to acquire the spontaneity and I'm sure that, as performers, you will make this experience progressively. As a composer, on the contrary, you have to accept, because you don't compose a piece, especially a long piece, you don't compose that in one day. On the contrary, you have to have a view and a memory of things - the memory of what you have done; the memory of what you think you will do because you are thinking ahead, and then progressively realizing. So that is a kind of different approach.

My experience of teaching is very different, certainly, from everybody else. But I suppose everybody has to make this experience individually. And you will find, certainly, that you will learn quite a lot after, Commencement is the French word for beginning. That is the end of your studies, but it is the beginning of your life. I would like to quote, just a trivial quote, but I remember in Luciano Berio's Sinfonia, when you have the singers who are at the same time speaking, in the third movement especially, the movement should go on, go on. There are many of the voice saying, ''Keep going. Keep going. The show must go on!'' I suppose you have to also keep going, and the show will certainly go on. I wish you good luck, because the show will go on with you and not without you.

Thank you very much.

CIM Commencement Address

Saturday, May 17, 2003
By Robert J. Harth

Thank you for that kind introduction, President Cerone. I am delighted and honored to be here this morning, to speak before this gathering of the Cleveland Institute of Music's graduating class, as well as the Institute's illustrious faculty, Trustees, and parents and alumni.

I know that you are all keenly aware of the challenges classical music is wrestling with today. The news reports and commentators are relentlessly reporting the demise of classical music, whether it be orchestras' reporting deficits, orchestras cutting back on seasons or tours, orchestras filing for bankruptcy, or orchestras simply shutting down and closing their doors for good. The recording industry is under siege, state arts council budgets are being slashed, and music organizations are embracing an unfortunate new word - contraction. The picture being painted is bleak.

Well... I'm encouraged. In fact, I am downright optimistic. And not because I am looking through rose-colored glasses.

There is a wonderful story about a meeting that was scheduled to take place between the composers Henry Cowell and Carl Ruggles. Cowell was to meet Ruggles at his home in Vermont. Finding no one at home, Cowell went around back to the studio where Ruggles did his composing. He was about to knock on the door when he heard music, so he thought it appropriate to wait for a pause in the music so as to not interrupt Ruggles while he was working. But what he heard was the same, one, extremely dissonant chord, played on the piano over and over and over and over again and again. Finally, an exasperated Cowell just entered the studio and went up to Ruggles and asked, "Carl, what the hell are you doing?" To which Ruggles replied, "I am giving it the test of time."

And that is why I am so optimistic -- because music has been given the test of time and it has passed with the highest honors. I believe passionately that classical music is alive and well. I believe this because I see first-hand, on an almost nightly basis, the power music has to provide comfort, solace and spiritual nourishment. I believe this because I see grateful and enthusiastic audiences who come to Carnegie Hall because they understand the need for great musical experiences to be a part of their lives. I believe this because more and more students are taking advantage of rush tickets to come to concerts. I believe this because we are in a time that is filled with vibrant new music that is reaching varied and enthusiastic audiences. And I believe this because I see and I hear how the musicians on stage respond to audiences. I am sure you all remember the snowstorm that hit the East Coast earlier this year. New York City had over two feet of snow on the ground when the sun rose on Washington's birthday. Carnegie Hall had a concert that night with Thomas Hampson and Daniel Barenboim performing a program of Hugo Wolff lieder. Most of the streets of Manhattan were impassable, and public transportation was severely curtailed, but 1,400 hardy souls came to the hall for the concert that night, and they were rewarded with a spectacular concert.

The fact is -- music is stronger then ever. As we look at a post - 9/11 world, a world forever changed, music has emerged as a great gift - a gift that has the power to provide comfort, solace, and healing as well as joy and excitement. The act of gathering to hear music has taken on greater meaning. I remember soon after the World Trade Towers fell what the experience was like to attend a performance of the Brahms Requiem performed by Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic. It was their Opening Night, but the tuxedos were missing and the Gala dinner was cancelled; at the end of the concert, there was no applause. The silence was extraordinary, and no one moved for several minutes. It was an amazing experience to gather together through music to honor those who died in the terrorist attacks, and to feel alive after being numbed by the senseless tragedy we had lived through.

A few weeks later came the Concert of Remembrance at Carnegie Hall. Again, an opportunity to offer the people of New York a chance to be together during a time of tremendous loss, and to seek comfort, solace, and healing through the power of music. We asked a handful of artists who were close to Carnegie Hall to participate. All agreed instantly. In a conversation with James Levine, we talked about needing someone like Leontyne Price to be part of the concert.

And then the question was asked, "Why not Leontyne?" She agreed within a half hour of our first conversation to come out of retirement and participate. Yo-Yo Ma, Leontyne Price, James Levine, and several members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra provided all the ingredients necessary for an amazing event. People lined up at the Hall for the free tickets, beginning at 4:00 am. Within hours, the line went around the block twice. The Concert of Remembrance was unforgettable; I witnessed that day what music has always meant to me - its power, its energy, its universal language - reaching everyone in the most profound way.

As you might imagine, I go to a lot of concerts. I mean a LOT of concerts! I am amazed and encouraged and delighted to see audiences palpably hungry for music, eager to listen, and grateful with their applause. You cannot make too many assumptions about the people in your audiences. Some may be hearing Brahms for the 400th time, some may be hearing it for the very first time; what you can assume is that music brought them in. Come to the concert halls of the world and you will see and hear that music is very much alive and well.

Now, I am not saying that we don't have issues to address. We absolutely do. But that is the real opportunity in front of all of us, including you. Because we are defined by how we act and what we do in response to the tough times, not the flush times.

It is clear that the landscape has changed, and the way we have been doing business, the way we have been operating music organizations, our entire approach to presenting and promoting and nurturing music, needs a fresh look. It is impossible to ignore this fact anymore. Dozens of orchestras of all sizes - from major orchestras to regional and metropolitan orchestras, presenting organizations large and small, opera companies, chamber music series, recording companies, music publishers, and virtually all organizations and the individuals who work in music are facing the toughest times any of us have known.

What this all means is that change is no longer something that is simply desirable and talked about but never embraced. Change is now not just critical and essential, it is central to the future of music. Intellectually, we all know that change is good; emotionally, most of us shy away from it. It scares us to ever move out of our comfort zone. And yet, change is what encourages growth. I liken it to re-potting a plant to provide the roots with room to grow and flourish.

Personally, I am happy for the wake-up call. It comes at an ideal time. We must change things to stay alive and fresh and vibrant, and what better time to do so than when music is experiencing a re-birth in its importance and its contributions to the quality of life.

This is where all of you, the 2003 graduating class of the Cleveland Institute of Music, come into the picture. All of you are about to leave your comfort zones and embrace change in your individual lives. And in doing so, you become the change agents for music. Your energy, your enthusiasm, your ideas, your talents, your dreams, your passion and your heart are the great hope for the future of music.

This is a huge opportunity. And I am here to tell you that opportunity quickly becomes responsibility. We need your curiosity, your bold ideas, and your refusal to embrace routine. We need your ability to recognize how important music is and can be to our world. It's not just about entertainment, it is about quality of life, it is about nurturing your soul, it is about being complete as a human being.

Isaac Stern, the man who saved Carnegie Hall from the wrecking ball, used to talk about how before we are born, when we are in our mother's womb, the first thing we hear is rhythm - the steady beating of our mother's heart. And when we are born, our cries add melody to that rhythm. This never changes for the rest of our lives, but so many people are either unaware, or take for granted the importance of music in our world.

Your task -- Never take it for granted. Seize the high ground and never relinquish it. Don't apologize for music, but champion it in its many, varied shapes and sizes, and respond to our changing world with music that is vibrant, current, invigorating and essential.

So, the obvious question, is how?

Actually, there are no easy answers, but the "how" rests within each and every one of you. It is in the decisions you make, it is in your maintaining your passion, it is in your learning when to compromise and when not to compromise, it is in seeking answers, not just asking questions, it is in seeking solutions, not just pointing out what is wrong, it is in staying curious, it is in being honest first and foremost to yourself, it is in being truthful, and it is in following the 20-year rule.

What is the 20-year rule? I learned it, actually, about 17 years ago. Back then, I was running the Hollywood Bowl as General Manager of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I faced a direct conflict, between something extremely important at work and my son's first grade end-of-the-school-year play. I was tied up in knots about it until my wife said to me, "In twenty years, what will have been more important, and what will you remember?" I will tell you that I cannot for the life of me remember what that important work issue was, but I will never forget my son Jeff in his first grade play. Don't ever underestimate the importance of the choices you make. They all matter, and they all count. Practice the 20-year rule with every important decision you make and you will be all the richer for it.

I have talked about the need for change. Be bold in examining the how, what, why, where, and when of music and music performance. This must not be done in a vacuum. It must be done with an understanding of our traditions in music, and with a view to the future.

I had the great pleasure of spending some time with the pianist Mitsuko Uchida a couple of weeks ago in New York. One of the things she talked about was her experience with Irving Moskowitz, a dear friend of Mitsuko's and a former Chairman of the Board of Marlboro. Irving was a great connoisseur of wine, but what resonated so deeply with Mitsuko was not the quality of the wine, although it was always excellent, but how much Irving loved great wine, the immense joy he took in sharing it with friends, in opening the bottle, savoring the aroma, and pouring a glass. The wine was to be enjoyed with others, not alone. For Mitsuko, the same applies to music - it is a shared experience, whether it is with 3 people or with 3,000 people. She is so right! Mitsuko is in the middle of a major 2-year project with Carnegie Hall. It was originally designed to take place in large part in our new 600-seat chamber music hall. When 9/11 caused delays in the opening of that hall, Mitsuko immediately agreed to move the concerts to our small 268-seat recital hall. For Mitsuko, it was not about how many people in the audience or how large the hall, it was about music as a shared experience with fellow musicians and audience members.

That is something that has not changed; that has stood the test of time. The great challenge is how we keep the shared experience alive. And you all are charged with that responsibility. To share the gift of music, whether you are standing on the stage at Carnegie Hall, teaching a second grade music class, or playing chamber music at a local public library.

I stand here in front of you because my family - my mother, who is being honored here today, my father, who was honored here several years ago, and my sister, an incredibly gifted musician - have all been passionate advocates for music. It has always been unthinkable for all of us to live even one day without music. Your job is to reach as many people with the same philosophy - that great music is essential to the mind, the body, and the soul. Without it we are lost; with it we are complete.

Thank you and good luck to all of you.

David Cerone
President of The Cleveland Institute of Music
addressed the City Club of Cleveland in October 1999

The City Club is the oldest continuous free speech forum in the country. This was the City Club's Annual Forum on Cultural Arts, made possible by a generous endowment gift from Bob Gries and Ellen Gries Cole in memory of their parents, Lucile and Robert Hays Gries. Highlights of the speech are presented below.

Consistency and Comprehensiveness!! I believe that these two words are imbedded in greatness. These are two words which are an integral part of my educational philosophy, management style, and performance approach as a concert violinist. Two of the most difficult, time consuming, demanding, frustrating and rewarding qualities any human being can ever hope to attain–qualities which are valued in the pursuit of most anything.

We can make machines which are Consistent, but they are usually not very Comprehensive in their chores. They can produce a widget, a bowl, a toy, an airplane rivet, a car part, a baseball bat, or a golf tee. But, machines don't make paintings, they don't write plays or compose symphonies, and they can't make a Stradivarius. These are things that are made by people, people who have spent many years mastering the fundamentals of their craft in an effort to bring Consistency and Comprehensiveness to their work. They master these qualities first–thereby empowering themselves to attain excellence.

Schools need to be configured to serve students. It is my feeling that schools must Consistently balance human fundamentals and embrace a Comprehensive approach which touches upon the intelligences we all possess.

Cities must Consistently renew themselves and must be Comprehensive in what they offer their citizens. Cities cannot stress stadiums OVER schools. They must stress stadiums AND schools
AND great musical organizations
AND responsive government
AND great museums
AND thrilling architecture
AND first rate libraries
AND theater
AND teaching and research hospitals
AND financial services
AND a diverse religious community
AND philanthropic individuals, corporations and foundations
AND health and human services
AND a strong public transportation infrastructure
AND, yes, great airports!

What are the steps we take to develop Consistency and Comprehensiveness? I will use the study of violin playing as an example. First, we must understand that it is a long process. The process must start early. It takes years of commitment, daily application and discipline. For the violinist, it requires: 1) Mastery of scales and arpeggios. 2) Control of vibrato. 3) Development of a sure bow stroke. 4) Educating the ear. 5) Engagement of the eye in the note reading process. 6) Engagement of the mind in interpreting the composer's musical messages. 7) Studying the history of music. 8) Knowing about the physics of sound and how it relates to the process of musical communication. 9) Feeling secure enough in all these areas to be musically spontaneous.

There are no shortcuts to excellence. More often than not, it is the path of most resistance that ultimately gets us where we want to be. One can't fake one's way to excellence. Art Benade, the late world renowned physicist at Case Western Reserve University, whose specialty was acoustics, used to say that excellence in music performance is much like phenomena in physics. It's either there, or it isn't.

How is The Cleveland Institute of Music practicing Consistency and Comprehensiveness in relation to where it will be in ten years–twenty–thirty years?

I can give that answer to you in a single word.

It is "CIM.edu"

Everything we have been and will do is engendered in this simple, cryptic combination of letters along with the mighty DOT. Look at it closely, this cim.edu. CIM is who we are. E-D-U is what we do – educate. The dot links the two, significantly, without spaces, and the whole links who we are and what we do to the 21st century through the wonders of technology. Make no mistake – the concept most naturally and completely embraces our past, present and future.

We will remain Consistent in bringing the best teachers and eager students together in a supportive environment.

But we will add to our Comprehensiveness by incorporating new technologies to enhance teaching and learning and provide ever wider customer access to our teaching, learning and performance resources.

John Mack, CIM Commencement Address

May 23, 1992
John Mack

President Cerone, Distinguished Guests, Members of the Graduating Class, Trustees, Faculty, Alumni, Parents and Friends:

On this memorable occasion I would like to share with you some of my views on the subject of music, several aspects of which concern us all.

Speaking of sharing, we share this space for obvious reasons. Our regard for music and its call to us are our common bonds—they create our community of music, so to speak.

I am feeling quite philosophical at this moment. By nature I frankly adore questions (as my students can easily testify). They sometimes elicit from the depths thoughts and observations not near the surface, but yet I would quail at the prospect of any personal assessment of 'What is Music?'

We know its power and enchantment. We feel its emotional forces upon us, and acknowledge freely that it occupies a place in our lives that is so special and unique that it defies description and does not permit its replacement by any other field of endeavor. In view of all this we must consider some other thoughts.

Man"s bestial behavior towards his fellow man seems to have been with us since pre-history, and shows ever only momentary signs of abating. All manner of natural disasters visit the planet regularly as if to test our resiliency and resolve. In spite of all that mankind seems determined to somehow move on and up.

We have as examples the wisdom of certain individuals over the span of time, the bravery of those who would dare to extend our boundaries of knowledge outwardly or inwardly. We cannot overlook those displays of incredible personal courage to confront dangers and evils of any sort. But those examples are not enough to sustain us through the generations; we need other things, be they religion or philosophy or morality.

Art is a beacon, and music happens to be our special beacon. (I wonder if there is a relationship between the words beacon and beckon?) Music most assuredly does sustain us, and beguile and nourish us. What kind of void would be in its absence? Not a pretty thought.

So it falls to us to do what it is that we can do. Our contributions to the cause of music can take so many forms and go in so many directions.

To start, let us consider these giants who have preceded us—so many of whose names began with the letter 'B'—who have given the world music that is permanent. I believe that the word 'classical is supposed to apply to such music.' To that blessed heritage is being added more all the time, some of which may even achieve that exalted state.

Since I come to you as a player and a teacher, however, my concerts must need be with that I can do to aid and abet our cause. It has been clear to me for quite some time that there are three key elements in the ongoingness of music, three elements essential to the ongoingness of all the arts, and the sciences too.

The first obvious one is talent, and of that there is no shortage whatsoever. It arrives from the four corners of the earth as from an eternal spring, and shows no signs of letting up.

The second is much more threatening, and that is the imperative that our world not destroy itself; it demands our concern, dedication, and hope. We seem to have dodged a bullet with the end of the east versus west matter, but the game does go on.

The third element is the one that all of us here today, you and I, can have some small hand in. And that is the passing on—by word and deed—of what is most precious to us about music.

I always considered playing my first love of music, and teaching my second, though they seem to be blending somewhat. But they are both avenues of sharing, hopefully, the best of what we have learned and received from others, and thereby making it possible for not only the masters of composition to enrich our lives, but also the masters of performing and teaching to inspire us beyond their time.

I fully intend to share a few potent nuggets with you, and at the same time try my best to persuade you to aim as high as you can, even though the target may appear beyond range.

CIM has posted a video tribute to John Mack - you can view it by clicking the above graphic.

Having been privileged to be a contributing member of our great orchestra for the past 27 years I am well aware of what the fruits of detailed demand can be. Five years with George Szell was an eye-opening experience! He increased your awareness on so many levels and in so many directions as to make you wonder where you had been before.

Also, in observing from the inside how an artistic body of that magnitude can survive and flourish over time, despite the gradual changes in personnel in the orchestra—and even on the podium—I have been brought to appreciate beyond words the value of collective stewardship.

These same past 27 years with this Institute have given me the parallel opportunity to share what I have received with so many fine talented young people—and I would not fail to mention the similar dedication I find right here in my faculty and colleagues.

This is all very nice, but what you need is advice! So first, a few of those nuggets—a few words from the past.

From Pablo Casals, an artist who could practically move mountains, succinct advice for music-making (or substitute what you would): 'Freedom, yes, but with order; order, yes, but with freedom.'

From Alexander Hilsberg, our conductor in New Orleans years ago, reminding a young oboe player that the pieces did not finish with his solo!

From George Szell, pronouncing his own epitaph to the first violins in rehearsal, 'I want this phrase to sound completely spontaneous—however, as the result of meticulous planning.'

And from my teacher, Marcel Tabuteau, growing impatient with my lack of a hasty reply to his question, 'Mack, what do you think I consider to be my greatest gift?' His answer: 'Not my talent, not my tone, not my technique, not my coloration, not my imagination, but my ability to get myself back on the track when I get off!'

So then, here are my words for you:

Love your work.
Know that it is important.
Commit yourselves to excellence.
Let music sweep you along.
Don"t limit your dreams.
If someone asks you for your help, give it.

And, in memory of my dear father: 'Don"t take no for an answer from inanimate objects.'

Bless you all, and thank you.