May 29, 2020

Tune In To Summer Intensives: Learn from CIM Faculty

Michael Sachs advised trumpet student Kevin Skinkis about maintaining an evenness of sound and articulation while performing an excerpt of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. “No matter how long or short we play a note, the enrichment of the sound needs to be the same,” Sachs said. “Make sure every note has a single orientation and you’re going right down Broadway!”

Students and early career musicians can learn from some of the world’s best teachers like Sachs by becoming an observer of any of the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Summer Intensives being offered online through June 26.

“Observing is a great way for students to expand their education without the pressure of performing in front of others until they’re ready to step out of their comfort zones,” said Jerrod Price, executive director of preparatory, enrollment and pathway programs at CIM.

Seventy-five other students were on hand to observe the interaction between Sachs, head of CIM’s trumpet department and principal trumpet of The Cleveland Orchestra, and Skinkis, a rising senior at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. These students are learning from the master classes and discussions in CIM’s summer intensives and will be able to apply that knowledge in their personal practice moving forward.

This week, Sachs and Michael Miller, trumpet faculty and fourth/utility trumpet of The Cleveland Orchestra, have been leading a five-day comprehensive overview of orchestral trumpet playing, covering 35 of the most standard works in the orchestral trumpet repertoire. They also held wide-ranging discussions on warm-up and fundamentals routines, as well as how to prepare orchestral works for auditions and performance.

All of CIM’s summer intensives will operate in a similar format.

Upcoming sessions for bassoon, cello, guitar, oboe, piano, violin and voice, feature celebrated CIM faculty and members of The Cleveland Orchestra including John Clouser, principal bassoon; Barrick Stees, assistant principal bassoon; Frank Rosenwein, principal oboe; Stephen Rose, principal second violin; and Richard Weiss, first assistant principal cello.

CIM faculty who are among the world’s leading pedagogues and performers are also holding intensives, such as Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux; cellist Melissa Kraut; pianists Kathryn Brown and Antonio Pompa-Baldi; violinists Ilya Kaler and Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler; and CIM’s entire voice faculty that includes such luminaries as Dean Southern, Mary Schiller and Dina Kuznetsova.

The cost for observing these world-renowned teaching artists is only $95. For details, visit cim.edu/summer-intensives.

“I’ve been having so much fun working with all of you,” Sachs told the online group of trumpet players from all over the country. “There’s nothing like seeing all the nodding heads and smiling faces on the screen.”

Summer intensives still open to observers:

Cello Audition Intensive