Curtis Institute of Music

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The Curtis Institute of Music
Established	1924
Type	Private
President	Roberto Díaz
Director	Roberto Díaz
Students	167
Location	1726 Locust Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Campus	Urban
Website	curtis.edu

The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S. News & World Report, it has the lowest acceptance rate of any institution of higher education in the United States.^[1]

Looking southeast from Rittenhouse Square toward The Curtis Institute's Main Building at the corner of Locust Street (on the left) and South 18th Street (on the right) (2006).

[edit] History

It was established in 1924 by Mary Louise Curtis Bok, and was named in honor of her father, Cyrus Curtis. After consulting with musician friends including Josef Hofmann and Leopold Stokowski on how best to help musically gifted young people, Bok purchased three mansions on Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square and had them joined and renovated. She established a faculty of prominent performing artists and eventually left the institute with an endowment of US$12 million. ^[2]

[edit] Admission

The institute has served as a training ground for orchestral players to fill the ranks of the Philadelphia Orchestra, much like the New England Conservatory serves as a training ground for the Boston Symphony Orchestra ^[3], although composers, organists, pianists and singers are offered courses of study as well.

All pupils attend on full scholarship, but admission is extremely competitive. Besides composers, conductors, organists pianists and singers, only enough students are admitted to fill a single orchestra. Accordingly, enrollment is in the range of 150 to 170 students. The acceptance rate is about one half that of comparable conservatories such as the Juilliard School, and one third that of Ivy League institutions such as Dartmouth College.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Administration

[edit] Past directors

Past directors of the institute have included:

Józef Hofmann (1926–1938) — pianist Randall Thompson (1938–1940) — composer Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. (1941–1968) — violinist Rudolf Serkin (1968–1976) — pianist

John de Lancie (1977–1985) — principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra for many years Gary Graffman (1986–2006) — pianist, continues on the piano faculty

[edit] Current administration

The current^{[clarification needed]} president/director is Roberto Diaz, principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra until 2006 and member of the Diaz Trio; Diaz is also a Curtis alumnus and faculty member.

The current^{[clarification needed]} conductor of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra is Otto-Werner Mueller.

[edit] Notable alumni

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Many of its alumni have gone on to notable careers including:

A–L

James Adler — composer Milton Adolphus - composer, [arranger]], pianist Joseph Alessi — principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic Shmuel Ashkenasi — first violinist of the Vermeer Quartet Rose Bampton — principal singer at the The Metropolitan Opera during the 1930s and 1940s Samuel Barber — composer Earl Bates — clarinetist, professor emeritus, Indiana University Harold Bennett — former principal flutist of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Leonard Bernstein — composer and conductor Jonathan Biss — pianist Natalie Bodanya — opera singer Jorge Bolet — pianist David Brooks — Broadway actor, stage director and producer Anshel Brusilow — violinist, conductor Norman Carol — concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra Jesse Ceci — violinist Keith Chapman — concert organist Marjorie Chauvel — harpist Shura Cherkassky — pianist Pearl Chertok — harpist and composer Young-Chang Cho — cellist Nicolas Chumachenco — violinist Katherine Ciesinski — mezzo-soprano Timothy Cobb — current principal bassist with The Metropolitan Opera Vinson Cole — operatic tenor Ken Cowan — organist, assistant professor of organ at the Westminster Choir College Juan Diego Flórez — tenor Miles B. Davis — double bassist, class of 1974 and secretary of the Curtis Alumni Council[4] Ellen DePasquale — violinist Julius Eastman — pianist, conductor, singer, composer Lukas Foss — composer, conductor and pianist Maxim Gershunoff — trumpeter, impresario and artist manager

Frank Guarrera — baritone Anthony Gigliotti — clarinetist, former principal of the Philadelphia Orchestra Alan Gilbert — conductor, music director of the New York Philharmonic Richard Goode — pianist Stewart Goodyear — pianist Daron Hagen — composer, conductor, pianist, and stage director Hilary Hahn — violinist Burt Hara — clarinetist, principal of the Minnesota Orchestra Margaret Harshaw — opera singer Shuler Hensley — singer and actor Jennifer Higdon — composer Lee Hoiby — composer Stanley Hollingsworth — composer David Horne — composer and pianist Eugene Istomin — pianist David N. Johnson — composer, organist and professor Arnold Jacobs — former tubist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and influential teacher of brass pedagogy (deceased) Paul Jacobs (organist) — organ professor at The Juilliard School Leila Josefowicz — violinist Sean Kennard — pianist Chin Kim — violinist, soloist, faculty at the Mannes College of Music and Queens College, City University of New York Loren Kitt — clarinetist, principal of the National Symphony Orchestra Jennifer Koh — violinist Lang Lang — pianist Mark Lawrence — principal trombonist of the San Francisco Symphony Cecile Licad — pianist Seymour Lipkin — pianist and faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School Peter Lloyd — former principal bassist with the Minnesota Orchestra, professor of double bass at Northwestern University David Ludwig — composer

M–Z

John Mack — oboist Nadina Mackie Jackson — bassoonist Monte Maxwell — chapel organist at the United States Naval Academy Jeremy McCoy — current assistant principal bassist with The Metropolitan Opera Anthony McGill — principal clarinetist, The Metropolitan Opera Gian Carlo Menotti — composer, librettist, and stage director Frank Miller — cellist Leon McCawley — pianist Virginia MacWatters — soprano Anna Moffo — soprano Alan Morrison — organist, faculty, The Curtis Institute of Music Lorne Munroe — cellist, former principal of the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra Nokuthula Ngwenyama — solo violist, Indiana University faculty Sean Osborn — clarinet soloist, formerly with The Metropolitan Opera Elizabeth Ostling — flutist, the Boston Symphony Orchestra Janet Perry — soprano Vincent Persichetti — composer Luis Prado — composer Gianna Rolandi — soprano, director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center Ned Rorem — composer, pianist, and writer Aaron Rosand — violinist[5] Leonard Rose — cellist and teacher at The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School

Matthew Rose — bass vocalist Nino Rota — composer and film composer Zeyda Ruga — pianist Michael Rusinek — clarinetist, principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony Andre-Michel Schub — pianist Kathryn Selby — pianist Peter Serkin — pianist Rinat Shaham — mezzo-soprano Yevgeniy Sharlat — composer, professor at The University of Texas at Austin David Shifrin — clarinet soloist, professor at the Yale School of Music Jacques Singer — conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn — music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia Robert Souza — trumpeter Leslie Spotz - pianist Susan Starr — pianist Arnold Steinhardt — violinist Michael Stern — music director and lead conductor of the Kansas City Symphony Michael Strauss — violist Jennifer Stumm — violist Hidetaro Suzuki — violinist, conductor Henri Temianka — violinist, conductor Benita Valente — soprano Pavel Ilyashov — violinist Yuja Wang — pianist Wendy Warner — cellist Andrius Zlabys — pianist

• Gian Carlo Menotti was also a teacher at the institute.

Philadelphia portal

[edit] References

1. ^ "Best Colleges: Top 100 — Lowest Acceptance Rates" (as of "Fall 2008 Acceptance rate"). U.S. News & World Report. Accessed November 30, 2009.
2. ^ Stoddard, Maynard Good (January 1, 2000). "A Legacy of Music. The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia". The Saturday Evening Post.  Accessed May 11, 2009
3. ^ Fact Sheets, New England Conservatory
4. ^ http://www.curtis.edu/html/70200.shtml
5. ^ Daniel J. Wakin, "A Tearful (and Lucrative) Parting of Virtuoso and Violin", The New York Times. October 21, 2009.

[edit] External links

• curtis.edu, official website

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