Chamber Music Intensive

About

The Chamber Music Intensive at the Cleveland Institute of Music is a week-long seminar offering high school, college and pre-professional string players and pre-formed groups the opportunity to make great strides in the art of string chamber music. The program is co-directed by CIM chamber music faculty members Todd Phillips, violin, and Si-Yan Darren Li, cello, and this year's special guest faculty Catherine Cho, violin, and Wesley Collins, viola.

This summer, the Chamber Music Intensive will be held in person June 20-29, 2025 and will include:

• Assignment to a string quartet or quintet
• Daily chamber coachings with faculty artists
• Masterclasses on solo repertoire
• Participation in a culminating concert on June 28, with performances by all participating groups
• Rehearsal and performance in a conductor-less chamber orchestra work led by Todd Phillips

Tuition & Fees

Application Fees:

• Submit by December 20: $75 per applicant
• Submit after December 20: $100 per applicant
• Applications open: early November
• Application Deadline: February 1st
• Admissions decisions for priority applicants will be sent by March 1st

Tuition: $1850
Housing: $675*
Dining: $450

Deposit: $300 non-refundable enrollment deposit is due upon accepting your admission offer. This deposit will be applied toward the total tuition due.

All travel expenses are the responsibility of the participant.

Scholarship opportunities are available, upon audition.

*Note: If you are local to Cleveland and don't need housing, that charge can be removed, but everyone is required to pay dining costs to cover meals provided during the intensive.

Faculty Bios

Todd Phillips, violin

Todd Phillips made his solo debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony at the age of 13 and has appeared with many orchestras throughout the United States, Europe and Japan since then, including the Brandenburg Ensemble, Jacksonville and Honolulu symphonies, Camerata Salzburg and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1982 with the New York String Orchestra and conductor Alexander Schneider. Return engagements at Carnegie Hall soon followed as well as solo performances in Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center, Boston’s Symphony Hall and Frankfurt Opera House. Phillips is a founding member of the highly-acclaimed Orion String Quartet, which has been the quartet-in-residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mannes College of Music and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. The Quartet’s television appearances have included PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center, three performances on ABC’s Good Morning America and A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts. Their recordings of the complete Beethoven quartets have received unanimous acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Phillips’ experience as a frequent leader of the conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has led to engagements as conductor/leader with the Camerata Nordica of Sweden, New World Symphony, Risor Chamber Orchestra in Norway, Brandenburg Ensemble, Tapiola Sinfonietta of Finland and Mannes Sinfonietta in New York City. Phillips serves on the violin faculties of the Mannes School of Music, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Manhattan School of Music and Bard College Conservatory of Music. Phillips began studying the violin at the age of 4 with his father, Eugene Phillips, a composer and former violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and later studied with Sally Thomas at The Juilliard School and with Sàndor Vègh at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He also studied piano with his mother, Natalie Phillips, a professor of piano at the University of Pittsburgh. Phillips lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, violinist Catherine Cho, and is the father of four children: Lia, Eliza, Jason and Brandon.

Si-Yan Darren Li, cello

Cellist Si-Yan Darren Li made his professional debut at the age of 9 and has since gone on to an international career as a recitalist, chamber musician, and teacher. He has appeared in solo and chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, 92nd Street Y, Kennedy Center, Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and National Concert Hall in Taipei. Li has also performed in many renowned music festivals, including the Ravinia Festival, Verbier Festival, and Kronberg Academy Cello Festival. An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with such esteemed artists as Emanuel Ax, Leon Fleisher, Lang Lang, Thomas Quasthoff, Miriam Fried, and members of the Emerson, Takács, Juilliard, Cleveland, Casals, and Ébène quartets. His recording of the Bartók string quartets with the Euclid Quartet was highly praised by Gramophone magazine and American Recording Guide. Li joined the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2017 and currently serves as Associate Dean of Ensembles and Chamber Music Program Director. As a dedicated pedagogue, his student ensembles have won top prizes in major international and national competitions, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition, Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, Coltman Chamber Music Competition, and Plowman Chamber Music Competition. Li holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. In addition to Orlando Cole, his principal teachers include Fred Sherry, Harvey Shapiro, Alan Stepansky, and David Hardy. His other mentors include Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Pamela Frank, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Li is a prizewinner in numerous prestigious competitions, including the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow and the YCA International Auditions in New York. He is also a recipient of the American Masterpieces grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Li plays a 1773 cello by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, generously on loan from the private collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rin Kei-Mei.

Catherine Cho, violin

Catherine Cho is recognized for her remarkable virtuosity, combining technical mastery of her instrument with an extraordinary and distinctive musicality. Praised by The New York Times for her "sublime tone", she has appeared worldwide as soloist with many orchestras and chamber ensembles as well as in recital. Catherine Cho's orchestral engagements have included appearances with the Detroit, Montreal, and Washington DC's National Symphony orchestras, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, the Edmonton Symphony, the Korean Broadcasting Symphony, the symphony orchestras of Barcelona, Haifa, and New Zealand, the Het Gelders Orkest in Holland, the Orchestra of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony performing with distinguished conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Robert Spano, Sixten Ehrling, Hugh Wolff, and Franz-Paul Decker. A regular guest on tour with "Musicians from Marlboro", Ms. Cho has also been a frequent participant in their summer Music Festival in Vermont since 1993. She has performed as special guest soloist with the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center for two ballets by renowned choreographer Peter Martins including the New York premiere of his ballet Viva Verdi. Her concert performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, with the Buffalo Philharmonic under the baton of Jo-Ann Falletta, was taped live and broadcast nationwide on National Public Television in January 2002. In broadcasts heard around the world, Catherine Cho has appeared on such stations as Radio Frankfurt (Germany), CBC (Canada), WQXR (New York City), and National Public Radio. Her performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the Korean Chamber Ensemble was recorded live and released on Credia Classics. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Catherine Cho has performed on the prestigious stages of Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society at New York's Lincoln Center, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Casals Hall in Tokyo, the Seoul Arts Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston, and on Ravinia's "Rising Stars" series in Chicago. She has performed the complete cycle of Violin Sonatas by Beethoven at HOAM Art Hall in Seoul, Korea with pianist, Mia Chung, and a recital of five Beethoven Sonatas at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival. Ms. Cho has appeared at the Aspen, Marlboro, Bridgehampton, Chesapeake Chamber Music, Santa Fe, and Skaneateles Festivals as well as at Bargemusic and Chamber Music Northwest, Four Seasons, and Vivace Foundation Music Festival. Ms. Cho was a member of the Johannes String Quartet from 2003 to 2006, and is a founding member of the chamber ensemble, La Fenice. Among her various awards, scholarships, and achievements, Ms. Cho was a recipient of both the 1995 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Korea's 1995 World Leaders of Tomorrow Award as presented by the Korea Central Daily News in recognition of outstanding achievement and commendable leadership in the Arts. She was named a Presidential Scholar in 1988, and was the recipient of the 1994 Sony ES Award for Musical Excellence; a top prize winner at the 1991 Hannover International Violin Competition, the 1989 Queen Elizabeth Music Competition of Belgium, the 1987 Montreal International Music Competition. Ms. Cho is a faculty member of The Juilliard School where she teaches violin, chamber music, and the Chamber Music Community Engagement Seminar. She has taught at the Heifetz Institute, Killington Music Festival, Seoul Music Festival, Starling-DeLay Symposium, Perlman Music Program, Great Mountains Music School and Festival, and coached chamber music at the New York String Seminar. Devoted to the cause of promoting peace through music, Catherine Cho was VP of the Board of Musicians For Harmony for several years, and is an artist member of Music For Food, a musician-led initiative to fight hunger in our local communities. She is currently Artistic Director of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival. Catherine lives in Brooklyn, NY with her devoted husband, Todd Phillips, and her sweet son, Brandon. She is the stepmom of three lovely stepchildren, Lia, Eliza, and Jason, and grandma to little Theo. When she is away from her teaching and performances, you may find Catherine making soup in her crock pot, baking, practicing yoga, catching up with the New York Times, or tending to her Zen garden.

Wesley Collins, viola

Wesley Collins joined The Cleveland Orchestra as principal viola with the start of the 2016-17 season. He previously served as a member of the viola section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra beginning in 2012 and was promoted to third chair viola there in 2014. Before joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he was a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 2008-12. Wesley Collins completed his bachelor of music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music in May 2007, where he was a student of Robert Vernon (principal viola of The Cleveland Orchestra 1973-2016). While in Cleveland, Mr. Collins played as a substitute musician with The Cleveland Orchestra, played in the Canton Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and City Music Cleveland, and served as assistant principal viola with the Akron Symphony Orchestra. His summer activities have included the Tanglewood Music Center, Sarasota Music Festival, Encore School for Strings, and the Pacific Music Festival. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Mr. Collins began studying violin with his mother, Sandy, at the age of four. He also played trumpet under the instruction of his father, Philip Collins, former principal trumpet of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He subsequently switched to viola under the tutelage of Michael Klotz, violist with the Amernet String Quartet. Mr. Collins has served as an adjunct professor of viola at Boston University.