This year got off to a busy start for the Cleveland Orchestra, kicking off its residency performances in Miami in January in addition to educational programming.
Cleveland Orchestra in Miami hosted students from HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges) to work one-on-one with musicians and also invited students from the Miami Music Project, which culminated in a pre-concert experience where the student musicians performed for an audience at the Arsht’s Knight Concert Hall.
“With Miami Music Project, we worked with their after-school program students providing coaching at their various campuses throughout Miami,” said Joan Katz Napoli, vice president of education and community engagement for The Cleveland Orchestra.
The preconcert before the Cleveland Orchestra’s performance at the Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center, on Friday, Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1, featured the Miami Music Project Leaders Wind Ensemble performing works by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Holst, Louis Prima, Tito Puente, George Gershwin, and Pharrell Williams.
Napoli said it was mutually beneficial for the students and the audience since “they had the opportunity to perform for a new audience, and in turn, those in attendance experienced these young talented students.”
Next, they are set to host educational workshops at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Liberty City and with students at Coral Reef Senior High School on Wednesday, April 30 and Thursday, May 1 prior to the orchestra’s performances at the Arsht Center on Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3. The Cleveland Orchestra in Miami presents a program featuring Holst’s “The Planets” featuring Daniel Hardin, conductor and Avery Amerau, contralto.
For the past eight years, Cleveland Orchestra musicians have conducted all-day string clinics at Coral Reef High School thanks to a long-standing relationship with the school’s music department, particularly Lee Stone, Coral Reef’s former director of orchestra, and its current director, Joshua Rivero.
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Full-day educational workshops prepare students for a concert by the Cleveland Orchestra with musicians doing the coaching. The musicians instruct with the same online interactive curriculum tools and resources used by teachers to prepare students “so we can get the most out of these experiences as possible and make this the most impactful field trip for the students,” said Napoli.
The intense two-day preparation culminates in two daytime concerts by the Cleveland Orchestra designed with students in mind.
“Those concerts usually have a narrator and someone who helps the students through the process,” said Napoli, who added that Miami-Dade County Public Schools recruits the schools and tickets are provided free through a grant with the National Endowment for the Arts, as are the curriculum resources.
The orchestra is returning this year, too, to its coaching sessions at The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, a new afterschool program partnership launched in 2024.
“We love this reinforcing experience and look forward to having those students and their families attend one of our May evening concerts,” said Napoli.
Last year, the Cleveland Orchestra partnered with Miami City Ballet and Sanctuary of the Arts, with dancers from each group performing during the educational concerts.
“The whole experience was a wonderful opportunity for students to simultaneously hear music by a world-renowned orchestra and watch world-class dance. It showed them those partnerships in action,” said Napoli.
And at least once a year it hosts a week of master classes and a culminating concert alongside musicians from New World Symphony as professionals from the Cleveland Orchestra share the stage with NWS Fellows.
“It is a full circle moment since we have had 10 of our professional musicians go through the NWS Fellows program and that group eventually ended up in our orchestra,” said Napoli.
Isabel Trautwein, who plays in the first violin section with the Orchestra, is one of those alumni.
“My first job out of school was with New World Symphony, and I then went to other orchestras before eventually landing in Cleveland. I have been with The Cleveland Orchestra since 2002,” said Trautwein.
She was a Fellow with New World Symphony in 1994.
“When I was a youngster at NWS, I organized concerts and later I stepped out into the world and since 2010 I’ve been returning to NWS as a coach,” she said.
She fondly recalls her time at Coral Reef Senior High School with Miami’s drumming group MiamiBloco.
“We conducted a workshop with NWS Fellows that featured 90 people in a room learning to drum and it felt like a full circle moment representing the ecosystem of music training in Miami,” said Trautwein.
Over the years, The Cleveland Orchestra has also collaborated with the University of Miami Frost School of Music, Florida International University, the Overtown Youth Center, and Coconut Grove Cares. They have also worked with libraries throughout Miami-Dade.
“It has been really fun to meet and work collaboratively with all these partners and we look forward to collaborating with them again,” said Napoli.
The educational programs are a must for The Cleveland Orchestra in Miami to continue to provide mentorship and training as part of their mission to reinforce the importance and future of classical music, according to Napoli.
The Cleveland Orchestra began its partnership with the Adrienne Arsht Center in January 2007. It recently announced its 19th year of residency in Miami with a four-program schedule and a lineup that includes programs featuring Itzhak Perlman, Yefim Bronfman, and Sergey Khatchatyran. See the schedule for the season.
IF YOU GO
What: The Cleveland Orchestra in Miami “Holst’s The Planets”
When: 8 p.m. Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3
Where: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.
Cost: Friday, $45-$179; Saturday, $55-$189
Information: 305-949-6722 or https://www.arshtcenter.org/
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