Conductor Training Workshop at the Cleveland Institute of Music Carl Topilow, Joel Smirnoff – Faculty Cleveland, OH March 14-17, 2010

Carl Topilow, Joel Smirnoff – Faculty

Cleveland, OH

March 14-17, 2010

The Conductors Guild is proud to announce an exciting workshop at the Cleveland Institute of Music. This Conductor Training Workshop provides participants with the experience of conducting conservatory students under the guidance of faculty members Carl Topilow and Joel Smirnoff. Participants will receive over 60 minutes of podium time conducting two string quintet, two string nonet and four full orchestra sessions. This workshop is packed with opportunities off the podium as well including lectures on topics such as symphonic pops, string techniques as well as observing and participating in conducting classes at the Cleveland Institute of Music. At the conclusion of the workshop participants are encouraged to stay to observe a rehearsal and attend a performance of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Click here to view a preliminary workshop schedule (PDF).

Carl Topilow is renowned worldwide for his versatility, whether he is holding a conductor’s baton or his trademark red clarinet. He is a multi-talented virtuoso who equally at home in classical and popular music both as conductor and instrumentalist. Carl’s pops performances blend light classical, swing, jazz, Broadway, Dixieland, and Klezmer music, usually finding occasion to include a number on his array of brightly colored clarinets. His unique approach to pops programming includes extensive audience involvement and true showmanship.

Following his long time dream of conducting his own pops orchestra, Carl founded the Cleveland Pops. The orchestra, currently in its 13th season, plays to large audiences in Severance Hall and in several other venues throughout Northeast Ohio. The Cleveland Pops Orchestra’s diverse, innovative and electrifying programs have been critically acclaimed. The orchestra’s first CD, entitled Music to Grow On, is an exciting collection of music for children and adults of all ages. Its second, Live at the Pops, celebrates the orchestra’s 10th anniversary, and is an exciting compilation of music taken from live performances.

Carl is also Conductor and Director of the Orchestral Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He recently completed in his 28th year as conductor of the CIM Orchestras, and is also head of the Masters program in orchestral conducting. Graduates of this program can be found as maestros with several leading orchestras.

Carl is about to begin his 32nd season as Music Director and Conductor of the National Repertory Orchestra, a summer music festival based in beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado. He has assisted in the training of talented young musicians and conductors for positions in symphonic orchestras in the United States and abroad.
Carl has also served as Principal Pops Conductor for the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra in Ft. Myers, Florida, as well as for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.

As a guest conductor, Carl has appeared around the world with nearly 100 orchestras, in 30 states in the USA, as well as orchestras in Canada, China, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela.

In addition to his busy conducting schedule, Carl avidly pursues his passion for performing as clarinetist. He often performs with his brother Arthur, a pianist, and the duo can be heard on three CDs, Come in from the Cold, A View from the Top, and Music of America.

Carl is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, with a degree in clarinet performance and a masters degree in music education. He has held conducting fellowships with the National Orchestral Association with Leon Barzin and the Aspen Music Festival with under Jorge Mester. Carl began his professional career as Exxon Arts Endowment Conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra.
Carl makes his home in Beachwood, Ohio, where he lives with his wife Shirley, Director of Morgenstern Dance Studio and Executive Director of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and his daughter Emily. Daughter Jenny, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Carnegie Mellon University, is a member of the violin section of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.

President, holds the Mary Elizabeth Callahan President’s Chair at CIM. He is a native of New York City and former chair of the violin department at The Juilliard School. He has been a member of the Juilliard String Quartet since 1986, and the ensemble’s leader since 1997. The Quartet, founded in 1947, has become a living American legend and won four GRAMMY Awards. Formerly the group’s second violinist, Mr. Smirnoff attended the University of Chicago and The Juilliard School and was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for six years. Second Prize-winner in the International American Music Competition in 1983, he made his New York recital debut in 1985 at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall as part of the Emerging Artists series and at Town Hall as part of the Midtown Masters series. In 1997, he was featured violin soloist at Tanglewood in a concert dedicated to the memory of violinist Louis Krasner, performing the Berg Violin Concerto under the direction of Bernard Haitink.

Mr. Smirnoff has participated in the world premiere of numerous contemporary works, many of which were composed for him. Mr. Smirnoff is a Sony recording artist and has solo recordings on GM, CRI and Northeastern Records. Mr. Smirnoff has served as Chair of the Violin Department at The Juilliard School since 1993 and served as Head of String Studies at the Tanglewood Music Center during the late 1990s. Mr. Smirnoff has been on the faculty of Tanglewood since 1983. He has served on the juries of the Naumburg and Indianapolis Violin Competitions. He also pursues an active career as a conductor, both in the U.S. and abroad.

In the summer of 2000, Mr. Smirnoff made his official American conducting debut with the San Francisco Symphony, conducting an all-Tchaikovsky program. He has also been a frequent guest with the New World Symphony and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. In May 2004, he received rave reviews for his debut with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, replacing Peter Oundjian, who had fallen ill. In Europe, Mr. Smirnoff has conducted the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and a European tour with the Basel Sinfonietta and Charles Rosen as soloist in the Elliott Carter Piano Concerto. Mr. Smirnoff has led both the Juilliard Symphony and the Juilliard Orchestra in concert. He has also appeared in concert with the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Phoenix Symphony, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Western New York Chamber Orchestra and the Texas Music Festival Orchestra.

Mr. Smirnoff also plays jazz, performing frequently as improvising soloist with Tony Bennett. His solos were featured on the GRAMMY Award-winning CD Tony Bennett Sings Ellington Hot and Cool. He has also been guest soloist with Gunther Schuller and the American Jazz Orchestra, as well as the Billy Taylor Trio. Mr. Smirnoff was born into an eminent New York musical family. His mother sang with the Jack Teagarden Band under the stage name of Judy Marshall and his father, Zelly Smirnoff, played in the NBC Symphony under Toscanini and was second violinist of the Stuyvesant String Quartet. Mr. Smirnoff has been president of CIM since 2008.

Since its founding in 1920, CIM has offered a world class education to students from 3 to 93 and provided concerts for the community. Located in University Circle, Cleveland’s cultural hub, CIM is easily accessible to all music lovers.

As a top-tier conservatory, CIM’s student body is international in its composition: 17% from other countries, 72% from other U.S. states, and 11% from Ohio. Nearly 3,500 talented students have completed programs from the bachelor’s to the doctoral level.

Eighty percent of the Institute’s alumni perform with the world’s most acclaimed musical organizations, in major national and international orchestras and opera companies, as soloists and in chamber ensembles, and hold prominent teaching positions around the world. Twenty-six percent of CIM alumni choose to stay in Northeast Ohio to develop their careers. They fill the ranks of virtually all the professional music organizations in the area and serve as local teachers.

CIM provides conducting students with a thorough, intensive education, and this study takes place in one of the country’s finest conservatory settings – University Circle, approximately four miles east of downtown Cleveland. CIM’s location in the Circle places it adjacent to Case Western Reserve University and just a five-minute walk from Severance Hall, home of The Cleveland Orchestra. Other important institutions within walking distance of CIM are The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Institute of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Western Reserve Historical Society, Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum, and the Cleveland Botanical Garden. It is a wonderfully stimulating environment!

For more information about CIM, please visit their website: http://www.cim.edu. Detailed information about the area including maps, hotel and restaurant information may be found here: http://www.cim.edu/about/visiting.php

Dvorak – Symphony #9

Elgar – Enigma Variations

Select two contrasting movements from the following:

Mozart – Divertimento K 136

Mozart – Divertimento K 138

Holst – St. Paul’s Suite

Select one of the following:

Copland – Quiet City

Russell Peck – Signs of Life

Britten – Simple Symphony – 3rd movement

Tchaikowsky – Serenade for Strings, 3rd movement

Select at least one of the following:

Mozart – The Marriage of Figaro, #17, #19

Mozart – Cosi’ fan tutte, #11, #14

Participants are encouraged to study all of the listed repertoire in preparation for this workshop but are given some choice of the segments they will conduct in consultation with the faculty.

Application Deadline: Thursday, December 10, 2009. The completed application form, DVD, and $50 application fee should be mailed to: Conductors Guild, Attn: Cleveland Workshop, 5300 Glenside Dr., Suite 2207, Richmond, VA 23228-3983.

Please note that submission of a DVD is strongly recommended, and applicants should furnish one whenever possible. In the case of a large number of applicants, DVD evaluation will be a determining factor in the selection of participants. Consult the CG Video Guidelines, posted on the CG website, www.conductorsguild.org, for suggestions regarding the preparation of a conducting DVD. Video formats and media other than DVD may not be accepted by the reviewing committee, at its discretion. Please make sure your DVDs are able to be played on standard DVD players. The Conductors Guild website also contains important information about workshop application review procedures, and about the goals and format of CG Workshops. DVDs will NOT be returned. Please do not include originals. It is your responsibility to clearly identify your DVD.

PLEASE NOTE: Application is open only to Conductors Guild members. If you are not currently a member and do not include your membership application and membership fee (or apply online), your application cannot be processed.

$50   -   Application Fee
$250 – Auditor Fee
$550 – Participant Fee

Up to 12 participants and additional auditors will be notified of acceptance no later than Monday, January 18, 2010. The workshop fees are due upon notice of acceptance and must be paid in full not later than January 29, 2010 by a credit card or by a check payable to the Conductors Guild. The fee will act as a deposit to reserve one’s place in the workshop. Fees will be refunded only if the withdrawing applicant’s place in the workshop is filled by another participant/auditor.

» 2010 Cleveland Workshop Application Form in Adobe PDF format (97k)

»Video Guidelines for Workshop Applicants

This workshop is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.