The Gold Baton Award of the American Symphony Orchestra League was awarded to Meet the Composer, an organization dedicated to commissioning and performing music by American composers. John Duffy, founder and president of the organization, accepted the award. "For our 50th anniversary we wanted to honor the source of our artistry - the composer," said Peter Kermani, chairman of the ASOL.

Founded in 1974, Meet the Composer puts composer and sponsor in contact with each other. It currently awards more than $2.5 million annually for commissions, collaborations, residencies, composer participation in performances, and outreach activities. MTC's Orchestra Residencies Program has reshaped the role of the American composer in the 1980s. Other programs are the MTC/Rockefeller Foundation/AT&T Jazz Program, the MTC Composer-Choreographer Project, the MTC/Reader's Digest Commissioning Program and the MTC Education Program.

A prolific composer himself, Duffy will be remembered here for his Symphony No. 1, "Utah," commissioned by the Sierra Club and premiered by the Utah Symphony.

- THE CLEVELAND BALLET has been saved from financial collapse by a desperate midseason fund drive that raised $545,000 from more than 5,500 donors - well on the way to the $1 million needed to complete the season.

The company has been in dire straits, with a $400,000 shortfall in expected contributions and a $2.7 million debt on an annual budget of $5.1 million. Cleveland Ballet shares its programs with San Jose, where it is known as Cleveland San Jose Ballet.

- HEIICHIRO OHYAMA, a violist and conductor, has been appointed artistic director of the Santa Fe (N.M.) Chamber Music Festival. Ohyama was musical adviser last year, and planned the programs for this summer's season, which will be the 20th . . . James Levine, artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera, was awarded the 1992 gold medal of the National Arts Club, founded in 1899, which has presented an annual medal since 1957.

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- THE KIROV OPERA of St. Petersburg will make its first ever North American appearance at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York's Lincoln Center, July 6-18. With Valery Gergiev as artistic director and principal conductor, the company will perform Prokofiev's "The Fiery Angel," Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades" and Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov."

- THE COLORADO DANCE FESTIVAL celebrates its 10th season June 26-July 25. Classes for Session One, the first two weeks, will include a tap conservatory curated by Brenda Bufalino and Lynn Dally, with many other tap greats on faculty. Session Two will include experimental, traditional and ancient dance forms, and new performance works by artists of African, Asian, European, Latin and Native American descent. For information contact CDF, P.O. Box 356, Boulder, CO 80306.

- ISADORE COHEN, violinist for the Beaux Arts Trio for the past 22 years, will retire in August. His successor will be Ida Kavafian, a fixture in the New York chamber music world. The Beaux Arts Trio was founded in 1954 by pianist Menahem Pressler, the only original member remaining. The original violinist was Daniel Guilet. The cellist, Bernard Greenhouse, who retired in 1987, was replaced by Peter Wiley.

- THE ARTS HAVE LOST: Quaintance Eaton, 90, who wrote extensively for Musical America and Opera News, and later served both publications in editorial capacities.

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