The Paris Project: Between the Wars
The Curtis all-school project for 2010–11 is the Paris Project: Between the Wars. It complements Curtis’s participation in the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, which will focus on Paris in the early 20th century.
Repertoire from the period—as well as the music that influenced and came out of it—will be performed throughout the year as part of the Paris Project. From Picasso to Stravinsky, Gertrude Stein, and Les Six, Curtis will spend the academic year in the company of great Modernist masters who lived in and around Paris.
What's the connection between Curtis and France in the 1920s and '30s? See and hear the answer in this brief audio slideshow from the Curtis Archives.
More about Paris Between the Wars
Paris Project Events
Dean's Lecture: November 9, 2010
Dr. Jeanne McGinn, the Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams Jr. Chair of the Liberal Arts, explores American witers in Paris—including H.D. and Ezra Pound, Stein, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway—and their contributions to the rising tide of literary Modernism.
Dr. David Ludwig, artistic chair of Performance Studies and composition faculty member, examines the music of Les Six—composers Auric, Durey, Honneger, Milhaud, Poulenc, and Tailleferre, who lived in Paris and reacted strongly against German Romanticism—and both the music that influenced them and their musical context.
Curtis Brass and Percussion Ensemble Recital: "Focus on France": November 10, 2010
Faculty member and alumnus Blair Bollinger leads the Curtis Brass and Percussion Ensemble in works by Bozza, Delibes, Dukas, Messiaen, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, and Tomasi. He joins the students in Poulenc's Sonata for Trumpet, Horn, and Trombone.
Curtis 20/21 Chamber Recital: November 14, 2010
Concert recording of Lili Boulanger's Pie Jesu on Instant Encore
Curtis's contemporary music ensemble plays pieces written in Paris between the wars, focusing on chamber works by Les Six—a group of French composers active during the 1920s—as well as pieces by Lili Boulanger and 2002 Curtis graduate John B Hedges.
Organ Class Recital: November 14, 2010
Curtis organ students perform works by Alain, Bonnet, Duruflé, Franck, Messiaen, and Vierne.
Chamber Music at the Philadelphia Museum of Art: November 20, 2010
Curtis woodwind students perform trios by Auric and Ibert.
Curtis Chamber Orchestra: December 5, 2010
Concert recording on Instant Encore
Under the direction of Joel Smirnoff, the Curtis Chamber Orchestra performs works by Griffes, Martin, Milhaud, and Stravinksy (Pulcinella), with soloists Jeffrey Khaner (faculty), flute, and Vocal Studies students. Presented by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Faculty Recital—Alan Morrison, Organ: January 15, 2011
Alan Morrison, who holds the Haas Charitable Trust Chair in Organ Studies, performs works by Dupré, Duruflé, Franck, Mulet, and Widor, as well as contemporary American pieces in a solo recital on the organ in Field Concert Hall.
Curtis 20/21 Recital: January 30, 2011
The contemporary music ensemble performs vocal works by Messiaen and Ravel.
Student Recital: February 21, 2011
Students perform solo and chamber works by Ravel, Debussy, and Fauré.
All-Ravel Recital
St. Mark's Church: February 20, 2011
Kennedy Center Conservatory Project: February 21, 2011
In Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., Curtis students perform a program of solo and chamber works by Ravel.
Dean's Lecture: April 5, 2011
Turangalîla is a compound word (taken from Sanskrit) meaning “Love song and hymn of joy, time, movement, rhythm, life, and death”. Messiaen described the joy of Turangalîla as “superhuman, overflowing, dazzling and abandoned”. Curtis faculty members Jonathan Coopersmith and Eric Sessler introduce and discuss key facets of this 20th-century landmark work. Throughout the lecture they break down how the massive piece is constructed by presenting an overview of the composer’s characteristic and idiosyncratic procedures—from the mythology of Tristan and Isolde to Indian rhythms to his fascination with bird songs, including a brief journey into the land of color via Messiaen’s own synesthesia.
Curtis Symphony Orchestra: April 12, 2011
Student Recital Series: April 20, 2011
The second half of the program features student Patrick Kreeger and faculty member and alumnus Alan Morrison performing Messiaen's piano cycle Visions de l'Amen.
Student Recital Series: April 27, 2011
The second half of this clarinet graduation recital includes Messiaen's Quatour pour la fin du temps.
Student Recital Series: May 5, 2011
The second half of the 8 p.m. recital includes Messiaen's Quatour pour la fin du temps.
Student Recital Series: May 8, 2011
The program includes the suite from Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat.
Student Recital Series: May 13, 2011
The second half of the Dean's Honors Recital includes works by Lili Boulanger, Françaix, Messiaen, Poulenc, and Ravel.
More on Paris Between the Wars
Interwar Paris, a Paris Project supplementary website that provides multimedia content on interwar Paris, Les Six, opera, Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, and jazz
Paris through the Window: March Chagall and His Circle: exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Paris the Luminous Years: Toward the Making of the Modern (PBS special, video of two-hour program online)
