Daniel Heim has been an active chamber musician, conductor, orchestral player, and teacher throughout his career. He received performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Musikhochschule Lübeck, and his principal viola teachers have included James Dunham, Martha Katz, and Barbara Westphal. Mr. Heim’s chamber music study included intensive work with members of the Cleveland Quartet as well as further studies with members of the Emerson, Juilliard, LaSalle, and Takacs String Quartets. In 2005, he completed Suzuki teacher training with Kimberly Meier-Sims at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Sato Center for Suzuki Studies, and in 2008 he earned a dual-credential Master of Arts plus Licensure in Music Education from Case Western Reserve University.
Mr. Heim has taught and conducted orchestras at all levels in the Beachwood City Schools, Strongsville City Schools, and Akron Public Schools. He has also served as an adjunct viola instructor to the Musikhochschule Lübeck, taught in the St. Ann School Suzuki Program in Cleveland Heights, and maintained a private violin and viola studio for many years. In recognition of his teaching achievements at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Akron, he was honored as the 2009 Teacher of the Year by his colleagues.
Mr. Heim’s background as a professional violist gives unique depth to his content knowledge and overall career experience. He has performed with the NDR [North German Radio] Symphony Hamburg, Lübeck Philharmonic, Kiel Philharmonic, Hamburg State Opera, Apollo’s Fire, Blossom Festival, and Cleveland Pops Orchestras. Mr. Heim has also performed chamber music in Europe, South America, and the United States with numerous groups, including the Barrault Quartet, the Phoenix Ensemble, and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and he continues to perform with chamber and orchestral ensembles in the Cleveland area. With the belief that chamber music can serve as a strong medium for teaching, Mr. Heim has frequently given talks about works to be performed in concert, taught young students at chamber music festivals, and led lecture-recitals, including one on Béla Bartók’s Sixth String Quartet at the Aspen Music Festival.
As a teacher and performer who first received instrumental music instruction in public school orchestra, Mr. Heim is excited to begin his first year as an Instrumental Music Director at Cleveland Heights High School. His teaching responsibilities currently include Heights High Symphony, Concert Orchestra, Concert Band, AP Music Theory and the Chamber Ensemble Program. He resides in South Euclid with his wife Gail.