Cleveland Plain Dealer
March 6, 2009

Cleveland Orchestra begins March residency in Miami with educational programs in schools

By Zachary Lewis
Plain Dealer Music Critic

MIAMI — The Cleveland Orchestra arrived in Miami Wednesday for part two of its three-week annual residency at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, a striking new venue in the city's downtown.

The first order of official business took place Thursday a few miles south in Coral Gables, where section leaders presented a "side-by-side" rehearsal with students at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

On stage before a live audience at the school's colorfully-decorated Gusman Concert Hall, assistant conductor Tito Muñoz led a mixed ensemble of students and Cleveland professionals in Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony and Berlioz's "Les Nuits d'Ete."

On a practical level, the event served as a rehearsal for a concert Saturday night by the Frost Symphony Orchestra. To that end, Muñoz paused the performance regularly to make suggestions and retry difficult passages. Individual section leaders, too, could be heard chatting quietly with the students.

Just as importantly, though, it was an opportunity for young artists-in-training to work in a realistic setting with some of the greatest musicians in the orchestral world. There was even a moment for shared laughter when someone in the audience let out an abnormally-loud sneeze.

"You've heard them play on recordings, but this is such a different experience," said Luis Fernandez, 34, a doctoral student and the Frost Symphony's acting concertmaster. "They listen to each other so carefully. They trust each other. To share in that, it's amazing."

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