Curtis Institute of Music

Curtis Institute of Music
Established	1924
Type	Private
President	Roberto Díaz
Director	Roberto Díaz
Students	167
Location	Philadelphia, PA, US
Campus	Urban
Website	http://www.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 and World Report, it has one of the the lowest acceptance rates of any institution of higher education in the United States second only to the Mayo Clinic's medical school.^[1]

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, Mrs. 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 $12 million. ^[2]

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 and the Boston Symphony Orchestra ^[3], although pianists, singers, organists and composers are offered courses of study as well.

All pupils attend on full scholarship, but admission is extremely competitive. Besides singers, pianists, organists, conductors and composers, 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 twice as low as comparable conservatories, such as the Juilliard School, and three times as low as Ivy League institutions such as Harvard and Yale.^{[citation needed]}

Past directors

Past directors of Curtis have included pianist Józef Hofmann (1926 – 1938), composer Randall Thompson (1938 – 1940), violinist Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. (1941 – 1968), pianist Rudolf Serkin (1968 – 1976), John de Lancie (1977 – 1985), Sr. (principal oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra for many years), and Gary Graffman, who was appointed in 1986 and retired at the end of the 2005-2006 school year, continuing on the piano faculty. The current 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 conductor of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra is Otto-Werner Mueller.

Distinguished alumni

The Curtis Main Building

Many of its alumni have gone on to distinguished careers. Among them are:

• James Adler, American composer
• Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic
• Shmuel Ashkenasi, First Violinist of the Vermeer Quartet
• Rose Bampton, principle singer at the Metropolitan Opera during the 1930s and 1940s
• Samuel Barber, American composer
• Earl Bates, American clarinetist, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University
• Harold Bennett, former principal flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
• Leonard Bernstein, composer and conductor
• Jonathan Biss, American pianist
• Natalie Bodanya, opera singer
• Jorge Bolet, Cuban-American pianist
• David Brooks, Broadway star and stage director and producer
• Anshel Brusilow, Violinist, Conductor
• Norman Carol, Concert Master of the Philadelphia Orchestra
• Jesse Ceci, Violinist
• Keith Chapman, concert organist
• Marjorie Chauvel, harpist
• Shura Cherkassky, pianist
• Pearl Chertok, harpist and composer
• Nicolas Chumachenco, violinist
• Katherine Ciesinski, mezzo soprano
• Timothy Cobb, current principal bassist with the Metropolitan Opera
• Vinson Cole, operatic tenor
• Ken Cowan, Canadian organist, Assistant professor of organ at Westminster Choir College
• Juan Diego Flórez, tenor
• Miles B. Davis, Double-bass, class of 1974 and secretary of the Curtis Alumni Council^[4]
• Ellen DePasquale, violinist
• Julius Eastman, pianist, conductor, singer, composer
• Maxim Gershunoff, trumpet player, 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, Canadian pianist
• Daron Hagen, American 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, American composer
• Lee Hoiby, American composer
• Stanley Hollingsworth, American composer
• David Horne, Scottish composer and pianist
• Eugene Istomin, pianist
• David N. Johnson, American composer, organist, and professor
• Arnold Jacobs former tubist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and influential teacher of brass pedagogy (deceased)
• Paul Jacobs (organist), Professor of Organ at the Juilliard School
• Leila Josefowicz, American violinist
• Sean Kennard, pianist
• Chin Kim, Korean born American violinist, soloist, faculty at Mannes College of Music, CUNY, Queens College
• Loren Kitt, clarinetist, principal of the National Symphony Orchestra
• Jennifer Koh, American violinist
• Lang Lang, pianist
• Mark Lawrence, principal trombone of the San Francisco Symphony
• Cecile Licad, pianist
• Seymour Lipkin, pianist and faculty at Curtis Institute of Music and Juilliard School of Music
• Peter Lloyd, former principal bassist with the Minnesota Orchestra, professor of double bass at Northwestern University
• David Ludwig, American composer
• John Mack, American Oboist
• Nadina Mackie Jackson, Canadian 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, American 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 Philadelphia Orchestra
• Nokuthula Ngwenyama, solo violist, Indiana University faculty
• Sean Osborn, clarinet soloist, formerly with the Metropolitan Opera
• Elizabeth Ostling, flutist, Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Janet Perry, soprano
• Vincent Persichetti, American composer
• Luis Prado, Puerto-Rican composer
• Gianna Rolandi, soprano, director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center
• Ned Rorem, American composer, pianist, and author
• Aaron Rosand, violinist^[5]
• Leonard Rose, cellist and teacher at both Curtis Institute of Music and Juilliard School of Music
• Matthew Rose, bass vocalist
• Nino Rota, Italian composer and film composer
• Zeyda Ruga, Cuban pianist
• Michael Rusinek, clarinetist, Principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony
• Andre-Michel Schub, pianist
• Peter Serkin, pianist
• Rinat Shaham, mezzo-soprano
• Yevgeniy Sharlat, Russian-American composer, professor at University of Texas at Austin
• David Shifrin, clarinet soloist, professor at Yale School of Music
• Jacques Singer, conductor
• Ignat Solzhenitsyn, music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia
• Robert Souza American trumpeter
• Susan Starr, American 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, violinst
• Yuja Wang, pianist
• Wendy Warner, American cellist
• Andrius Zlabys, Lithuanian pianist

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

Philadelphia portal

References

1. ^ College Rankings, US News and World Report
2. ^ Stoddard, Maynard Good (1 January 2000). "A Legacy of Music. The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia". The Saturday Evening Post. 
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, 21 October 2009.

External links

• Curtis Institute website

Coordinates: 39°56′56″N 75°10′14″W / 39.9488°N 75.1706°W / 39.9488; -75.1706