Cello student Karim Maggio wins 2024 Presser Foundation Undergraduate Scholar Award

Add another year to CIM’s long track record of producing Presser Scholars. 

On Friday, CIM announced that fourth-year cello student Karim Maggio (Kraut) has won a 2024 Undergraduate Scholar Award from the Presser Foundation.  

He will join the ranks of many earlier CIM winners in May, when he receives the $3,000 Presser Scholarship upon graduation with an expected 4.0 grade point average. CIM students have won Presser awards each year for the past decade.    

"It is an honor to have been named a Presser Scholar,” Maggio said. “I am eternally thankful to my fellow student leaders...for their help in serving our student body. This award will be a tremendous help in furthering my music education and career for years to come." 

The Undergraduate Scholar Award is a yearly prize granted by the Presser Foundation, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit supporting music and music education in the name of founder Theodore Presser. It is awarded to students who exhibit “a high level of musical and academic excellence” and have exemplified the values of equity and inclusion.  

Maggio easily met or exceeded these standards. In its nomination of Maggio for the award, CIM called the fourth-year student of Dr. Melissa Kraut a model student, both musically and academically, noting conduct defined by kindness and exemplary service in CIM’s Student Government Association.  

"Karim has demonstrated an incredible work ethic and character his entire time here,” Kraut said separately. “His growth as a cellist has been monumental...and his kindness and attitude have been steady and impactful. He is fully deserving of this recognition.” 

The document further cited Maggio’s membership in the professional Canton Symphony Orchestra and his participation in CIM’s Advanced String Quartet seminar and the 2023 Heifetz International Music Institute. It also praised his work as an usher for The Cleveland Orchestra, in which “his sincere care for the patrons he represents is evident and represents the best of CIM’s students.” 

“Karim embodies just what we mean when we say CIM trains the future of classical music,” said Scott Harrison, CIM’s Executive Vice President & Provost. “We’re glad Presser saw in him what we do – as an artist, scholar, and champion for positive change – and we’re proud to celebrate his accomplishment.”  

Photo by Niles Singer