Many people know Clara T. Rankin has been actively involved in the Cleveland Arts Scene for decades. However, you may not know
she’s been an instrumental part of our organization since it’s inception, and a longtime supporter of both the Cleveland International Piano Competition and it’s predecessor, the Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition.
To recognize Clara’s impact on our organization and her dedicated support of our partnership with The Cleveland Orchestra, Piano Cleveland created the Clara T. Rankin Medalist Circle named in her honor, which commemorates gifts of $25,000 or higher given to directly support the engagement of The Cleveland Orchestra for the Final Round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition.
We had the pleasure of sitting down with Clara recently and thought we’d share some fun tidbits of Clara’s life you may not know about. Here are 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Clara T. Rankin!
1. She comes from a family of gifted musicians
Clara comes from a musically rich home life, where there wasn’t a shortage of talent! Her older brother was an extremely gifted musician, perfect-pitch singer, and piano player (later became the head of the Metropolitan Opera), and her younger brother played the trumpet and drums (and as you can imagine, was often regulated to the basement for practice). The piano (and xylophone) was always very accessible and resided in the living room, where Clara and her mother would play while her father would play recordings of Enrico Caruso. Clara was naturally drawn to signing, which she doesn’t believe she chose, but rather an evolutionary progression that she believes chose her. A “steady voice and steady legs” took her from High School Glee Club and Chorus, and lead her to have an invitation to sing solo with the Yale Glee Club, then onto study voice in New York, and returned to Cleveland in 1959 where she studied with Marie Kraft who was the voice teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Clara would sing solo recitals around Cleveland, and while raising five boys at home, she and her brother would find time for fun and sing at local parties around town.
2. She’s seen drastic changes in the Cleveland Arts scene
She describes it as a “wonderful evolution” and believes there have been great strides in skill and sophistication. She is thrilled to see a more global reach in Cleveland, as at the end of the 20th century, Cleveland was often overlooked for New York. That is mending now, and with Cleveland becoming a describable place to live and with the establishment of cultural institutions, there is much more of an international presence and distinction brought to Cleveland.
3. Her hopes for CIPC
Simply put, “EXCELLENCE.” CIPC enriches our city and gives musicians endless opportunities, and she hopes to continue to see excellence and talent put first.
4. Her secret to a long and healthy life
“Honey, I eat honey every day,” Clara said with a laugh. Joking aside, she credits her health to staying curious and staying involved. (However, all humor aside, we’re still going to give this honey thing a shot!)
5. One thing she takes pride in from her career
Clara quickly rephrased her answer, “I don’t have the right to say I’m proud of what I’ve done, I’m happy about it, but I don’t take pride in it.” I’m happy to be involved in increasing the quality of music in Cleveland, but I have undertaken an entirely different course.” Clara went on to say she finds her joy in Hopewell, a 27 year mentally therapeutic nature-based establishment. It was here that she spread her wings and was able to see what she was capable of doing after her husband passed away. It was a challenge for her to keep pushing through, but she found strength and encouragement from the people in the mental health field and helping those with severe mental illness navigate and understand their gifts and how they can pursue them in a nature-based environment. She credits the staff that works 24 hours a day and devotes themselves to the well-being of Hopewell.
Piano Cleveland extends their gratitude to Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. and NACCO Industries, Inc., whose foundational gifts established the naming of the Medalist Circle in honor of Clara T. Rankin. to read more about our generous donors in the Clara T. Rankin Medalist Circle, please see our program book.