Fall 2024 alumni news underscores power of ‘The CIM Advantage’

The remarkable success enjoyed by CIM alumni last spring and summer was not an isolated incident. It has continued well into fall.  

Just since the start of the 2024-25 school year, another nearly two dozen CIM alumni have reported significant professional achievements including prominent appointments in major orchestras and posts at noted colleges and universities.  

“The ‘CIM Advantage’ is not just a catchphrase,” said Scott Harrison, CIM’s Executive Vice President & Provost.  

“It is a real phenomenon illustrated time and again by the careers our students make for themselves and the impact they continue to have on the world of classical music.”  

Good news from alumni is common at CIM. For most of the school’s 104-year history, graduates have been performing on the world’s highest-profile stages and staffing top universities and arts organizations.  

Last June, for instance, CIM hailed dozens of CIM graduates who’d recently won prestigious prizes or earned appointments ranging from seats in major orchestras and chamber ensembles to a wide array of academic and administrative posts. 

But the pace and nature of the news in fall 2024 have been exceptional. Over the course of just a few weeks, nearly two dozen more alumni shared significant professional successes, dramatically illustrating the ongoing power of a CIM education, or “The CIM Advantage.”  

Remarkably, three alumni earned seats in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, while two sets of two others won posts – including a principal seat – in both the Minnesota Orchestra and Houston Symphony Orchestra. Still others joined the orchestras of Edmonton, Cincinnati, North Carolina, Savannah, and Virginia.  

Not everyone is on the large orchestra path, of course. Other CIM alumni in fall 2024 earned a spot in the award-winning Seraph Brass, a principal role in the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and faculty appointments at Cornell University and Michigan State University.  

“We take enormous pride in seeing so many of our former students finding their place in the larger world of music,” Harrison said. “With these artists where they are, the future of classical music is bright, indeed.”  

 

ALUMNI NEWS SINCE JUNE 2024 

• Paul Aguilar (BM ’19, Laredo), viola section, Houston Symphony Orchestra 

• Layan Atieh (MM ’24, King/Silberschlag), horn, Seraph Brass 

• Sabrina Bradford (MM ’20, Rose), second violin section, Minnesota Orchestra  

• Paolo Dara (BM ’19, PS ’23, GD ’24, Sloman/Rose/Laredo), second violin section, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 

• Cheryl Losey Feder (BM ’06, MM ’08, Kondonassis), principal harp, Minnesota Orchestra 

• Elizabeth Furuta (BM ’13, MM ’15, Preucil), violin section, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra 

• Paul Halberstadt (MM ’22, Rose), second violin section, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 

• Tristen Jarvis (MM ’20, Dixon), visiting lecturer, Cornell University 

• Maya Johnson (BM ’22, MM ’24, I. Kaler/O. Kaler), associate concertmaster, Savannah Philharmonic 

• Dan Kassteen (BM ’97, Darling), principal trumpet, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra 

• Stanislav Khristenko (AD ’11, Babayan), piano faculty, Michigan State University College of Music 

• Nina Kiken (MM ’18, DMA ’22, Irvine/Ramsey), adjunct faculty, Towson University 

• Chantel Leung (PS ’18, Dixon), double bass section, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra 

• Samantha Powell (BM ’21, Weiss), principal cello, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra 

• Juan Riveros (BM ’21, MM ’22, Kondonassis), strings area faculty, Michigan State University College of Music 

• Eva Roebuck (MM ’19, Robinson), cello section, Virginia Symphony Orchestra 

• Lauren Roth (MM ’13, Preucil), assistant concertmaster, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 

• Rachel Schultz (BM '02, MM '08, Brown/Pontremoli), Chief Operating Officer, Hawaii Youth Symphony 

• Samuel Sykes (BM ’23, Kraut), cello section, North Carolina Symphony 

• Cynthia Wohlschlager (PS ’05, AD ’13, Schiller), Academy and Joint Music Program faculty, CIM 

• Michael Zogaib (BM ’21, Dixon), double bass section, Houston Symphony Orchestra