CIM wins the talent lottery in recent faculty appointments

Factoring in other recent appointments, CIM this fall is brimming with the talent of 21 new teachers across its Conservatory, Preparatory and Joint Music Program (with Case Western Reserve University) divisions, enhancing an already robust roster that includes 35 members of The Cleveland Orchestra and many of today’s most renowned soloists. The additions reflect CIM’s ongoing commitment to diversifying its faculty and ensuring that all students at CIM have access to a wide array of leaders in their field. 

“We’re delighted to welcome so many inspiring performers and educators,” said Scott Harrison, executive vice president and provost of CIM. “With these artists adding to the shared wisdom here at CIM, our students will be exposed to a broader array of experience and even better poised to take their place as the future of classical music.”  

New to the faculty at the start of 2022 were 11 new artists: 

• David Brockett (BM ’85), horn
• Robert Davis (BM ’01, Nereim), clarinet
• Maximilian Dimoff, principal bass of The Cleveland Orchestra
• Nathaniel Hoyt (MM ’22, Weiss), cello
• Ian Howell, CIM’s first faculty countertenor and director of vocal chamber music
• Cristina Micci-Barreca (BM ’21, Irvine/Ramsey), viola
• Gabriel Novak (BM ’18, Fitch), music theory
• Mary Kay Robinson, chamber music
• Joseph Sferra, music theory
• Jonathon Turner, choral conducting

Also this year, CIM expanded its relationship with two distinguished faculty members with international performance careers as guitarist Jason Vieaux (BM ’95, Holmquist) and soprano Dina Kuznetsova moved into full-time roles. These joined a slate of recent new faculty appointments made during the pandemic, including: 

• Jack Hughes, music theory
• Carlos Kalmar, principal conductor and director of orchestral studies
• Ali King, director of the Center for Innovative Musicianship
• Jessica Lee, assistant concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra
• Mary Le Rouge, director of the CIM Writing Center
• Philip Setzer, violin and artistic director of string chamber music
• Nathaniel Silberschlag, principal horn of The Cleveland Orchestra
• Allen Yueh, music theory and piano 

These new members of the faculty complement CIM’s already robust slate of resident and visiting faculty, which includes current and past members of The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as well as internationally celebrated soloists like Sergei Babayan, Ilya Kaler, Jaime Laredo and Antonio Pompa-Baldi. Many are scheduled or planning to perform at CIM this season. For a complete calendar of their performances in the 2022-23 season, visit cim.edu/events.

About the New Faculty

David Brockett has been an active performer and educator across Ohio. He has played regularly with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, among many others, and was a founding member of Burning River Brass. He also has taught at universities all over the Midwest and appeared on numerous recordings.

Robert Davis comes back to CIM from Cleveland State University, where he earned a master’s degree in voice and served on the applied faculty in clarinet. He also has been director of bands at Cleveland School of the Arts and is principal clarinet of Cleveland Opera Theater and The Cleveland Opera.

Maximilian Dimoff has been principal bass of The Cleveland Orchestra since 1997 and was head of CIM’s double bass department for 17 years, before stepping away in 2017. He also has held positions in the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Symphony. Dimoff performs on a double bass dated to 1651, made by Antonio Mariani.

Nathaniel Hoyt has extensive experience as both a solo and collaborative cellist, having won the 2019 Eastern Music Festival Concerto Competition and the 2020 Misbin Chamber Music Competition. He performs regularly with his sister, pianist Sadie Hoyt, and helped form the Amaiera Quartet.

Ian Howell comes to CIM from the New England Conservatory, where he taught voice majors and served as director of voice pedagogy since 2014. While there, he also designed, built and implemented the NEC Voice and Sound Analysis Laboratory. Howell first studied percussion before switching to voice and early music at Yale University.

Cristina Micci-Barreca has performed as principal viola in several youth orchestras, including the Houston Youth Symphony and the TMEA All-State Orchestras. She was named a Houston Young Artist and Texas Music Scholar and has taken part in music festivals at Bowdoin, the Chautauqua Institution and the Domaine Forget Academy.

Gabriel Novak is a composer and pianist whose music incorporates elements of jazz, blues and the American vernacular with classical and contemporary traditions. He has worked at Interlochen Center for the Arts and is currently pursuing his PhD at The University of Chicago.

Mary Kay Robinson is an acclaimed flutist and winner of numerous competitions. She has appeared with major orchestras across the east, often as a featured soloist, and performed with musicians from a long list of chamber music festivals and chamber ensembles. She also has served as a teacher, coach and administrator.

Joseph Sferra comes to CIM from the State University of New York, where he was a visiting assistant professor. He studied composition at Saint Olaf College, The Ohio State University and Stoneybrook University and has remained active as a clarinetist and vocalist. In music theory, his focus is the music of living American composers. 

Jonathon Turner enjoys a multifaceted career as a conductor, tenor and educator. He is currently choral director at Lutheran High School East but also has directed the Inspirational Voices of Praise at the University of Mount Union and the Voices of Testimony Gospel Choir at Kent State University, where he studied.