The Curtis Institute of Music

© 2000 Meredith Heuer

A 100th Birthday Tribute to Elliott Carter
20/21: The Curtis Contemporary Music Ensemble performs a concert of works by Elliott Carter on Thursday, May 8 at 8 p.m. in honor of the famed composer's 100th birthday. The free recital takes place in Field Concert Hall at The Curtis Institute of Music, and no tickets are required. The program also includes two pieces by student composers Christopher Rogerson and Ke-Chia Chen. View the entire program.

Dedicated to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, 20/21 performs works ranging from important twentieth-century compositions to newly written pieces not yet part of the core repertoire.

How is Curtis Unique?

The Curtis Institute of Music was founded in 1924 by Mary Louise Curtis Bok "to train exceptionally gifted young musicians for careers as performing artists on the highest professional level." From the start, the curriculum has reflected Mrs. Bok's philosophy on the best way to accomplish the school's mission.

	Curtis is the only major music conservatory in the United States that provides merit-based full-tuition scholarships to undergraduate, as well as graduate, students, who are chosen as a result of highly selective auditions.

	Enrollment is purposely kept very limited, with just enough students to complete a full orchestra and a select opera department, plus a small number of keyboard, composition and conducting students. The enrollment for 2006/2007 is 167.

	The length of a student's stay is open-ended and can be anywhere from two to 12 years. Students graduate when their teachers decide they are ready. In most cases this is between three and five years.

	Because it is a Curtis precept that a greatly gifted young musician should study with an important teacher from the beginning of his or her conservatory days, there are no "preparatory" or teaching assistants. Elementary-school-aged students receive training from the same teachers at the same intensive levels as do their older colleagues (the only difference being that the younger pupils receive additional lessons).

	The "older" students are generally younger than those at other conservatories: Most instrumentalists must be under 21 years of age to qualify for acceptance at Curtis.

	Curtis's celebrated faculty, which numbers about 90, is composed largely of performing musicians whose livelihood is not primarily derived from teaching. Students are thus accepted on merit alone and not in order to fulfill contractual obligations to teachers.

	All piano, organ, harpsichord, conducting, and composition students are lent Steinway grand pianos for use throughout their studies at Curtis. Mrs. Bok set this policy when she founded the school. Curtis currently owns 95 Steinways.

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