The Observer, November 16, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 11
CIM celebrates new era with dedication of Mixon Hall
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A glittering weekend of festivities greeted students, donors, dignitaries, faculty, and public alike with the opening of the new Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, a beautiful and intimate venue whose official unveiling signals the completion of a major $40 million campus expansion project. The new facilities aim to match the goal of providing state-of-the-art facilities to an institution of international reputation, and lead the school into the future with comprehensive capabilities. The project was funded with the donations of more than a thousand individuals, foundations, corporations, and government programs. Public ceremonies began on Sunday, Nov. 11, with speeches, performances, discussion panels with the design team, and tours.
The weekend schedule included many private events, concerts, and luncheons for donors, and featured ribbon-cutting ceremonies and fireworks, in addition to the public events on Sunday. The private concert on Saturday, which was broadcast live on WCLV, notably featured diverse selections from the dynamic Cavani Quartet, as well as artist-in-residence Sergei Babayan, whose rendition of the Bach Goldberg Variations and Debussy's Claire de Lune were marvels of suspended sound. Public response was overwhelmingly positive to a space that invites a sense of wonder.
The beautiful 250-seat venue, named in honor of Barbara and A. Malachi Mixon, chairman of CIMs board of trustees, immediately makes an impression with its warm wooden interior, terraced seating, and extensive use of glass. Included in the design by Charles T. Young Architects is an organically connective 43-foot wall of glass at the back of the stage, enabling performers and audiences to look onto the newly landscaped music garden (named in honor of the Gilliam family) and to experience the seasons. The extensive use of natural light is an essential feature of the rest of the expansion as well, which includes the construction of new lobbies and entrances, attractive new indoor and outdoor lighting, a complete renovation of the Robinson Music Library, a new façade on East Boulevard, and the addition of student, administrative, and lounge spaces in the crescent-shaped Fred A. Lennon Education Building. The contemporary designs of both addition phases remain faithful to the design of the original building, and include wooden accents and floor-to-ceiling windows throughout, but add greater flow to the layout and transparency to the facilities, which now serve over 400 conservatory students and 1,700 outreach students.
The public performances on Sunday afternoon brought a chance to audition the Mixon Hall acoustics, which were designed by Paul Scarbrough of Akustiks, who also led the acoustical design team of Severance Hall's renovation in 2000. CIM president David Cerone remarked of the acoustics, "You can hear the roar of your circulatory system in here, if you listen." The events opened with a rendition of Schubert's soaring "Octet in F Major," and followed with numerous offerings from piano students and the Sato Center for Suzuki Studies Outreach Group, before continuing with a panel discussion featuring Charles Young, Scarbrough, and Cerone.
"To have a facility like this certainly helps CIM compete on the world stage. This is unlike any other hall, and the acoustics are spectacular," noted Susan Schwartz, director of marketing and relations.
