Faculty Biographies

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MISHA AMORY: Viola
Winner of the 1991 Naumburg Viola Award, Mr. Amory has performed with orchestras in the United States and Europe, and he has given recitals in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, and Washington, D.C. He has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival and the Vancouver and Seattle chamber music festivals, as well as with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Boston Chamber Music Society. He released a recording of the Hindemith sonatas on the Musical Heritage Society label in 1993. Mr. Amory is a founding member of the Brentano String Quartet, which won the inaugural Cleveland Quartet Award and the 1995 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. He holds degrees from Yale University and the Juilliard School, and his principal teachers were Heidi Castelman, Caroline Levine, and Samuel Rhodes. Currently on the faculty at Juilliard, Mr. Amory joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2006.
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SHMUEL ASHKENASI: Violin
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Mr. Ashkenasi attended the Musical Academy of Tel Aviv and gave his first public performance at the age of eight. After studying with Ilona Feher, he came to the United States to study with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music. He won the Merriweather Post Competition, was a finalist in Belgium’s Queen Elisabeth competition, and received second prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Mr. Ashkenasi has toured the former Soviet Union twice and concertized extensively in Europe, Israel, the Far East, and the United States, and he has collaborated with Rudolf Serkin, Thomas Hampson, Murray Perahia, Peter Serkin, and Menahem Pressler. As first violin of the famed Vermeer Quartet, he has gained a reputation as one of the world’s outstanding chamber musicians. From 1969 until 2007, Mr. Ashkenasi was professor of music and artist-in-residence at Northern Illinois University, and, for the last several years, he taught at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Mr. Ashkenasi joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007.
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DAVID BILGER: Trumpet
Mr. Bilger joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal trumpet in 1995; prior to that, he held the same position with the Dallas Symphony. He has performed in recital throughout the United States and Canada and appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra; Dallas, Houston, and Oakland symphonies; Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York; and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. In 1998 he performed the Tomasi Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and on tour in North and South America. An active chamber musician, Mr. Bilger can be heard on the Delos label in a recording of Bach’s Second Brandenburg Concerto with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He studied at the Juilliard School and the University of Illinois. Mr. Bilger joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1997.
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ALFRED BLATTER: Computers, Acoustics, Orchestration, Sound Technology
Dr. Blatter received his D.M.A. in composition-theory from the University of Illinois, where he studied with Robert Kelly, Ben Johnston, and Kenneth Gaburo. He is a hornist, published composer, and author of Instrumentation and Orchestration (second edition), published by Schirmer Books, and Revisiting Music Theory: A Guide to the Practice, published by Routledge. Dr. Blatter was the founding editor of Media Press and a United States panelist to the Ghent conference on new musical notation. His interests include computer and electronic music, pipe organ design, psychoacoustics, and musical theater. He is professor emeritus at Drexel University, where he taught music theory and was head of the department of performing arts for twenty-three years. Dr. Blatter joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1989. [top]

BLAIR BOLLINGER: Bass Trombone, Orchestral Repertoire, Chamber Music
Mr. Bollinger is the bass trombone of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he joined in 1986. He has made solo appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, and National Symphony of Taiwan, as well as at many international and domestic trombone conferences. Mr. Bollinger has given recitals and master classes in Brazil, Chile, China, Holland, Israel, Japan, Poland, Taiwan, and throughout the United States. His recordings include a solo CD (Fancy Free), two discs with Four of a Kind trombone quartet, and a disc with the Canadian Brass. Also active as a conductor, Mr. Bollinger is the music director of the Bar Harbor Brass Week in Maine and has guestconducted Georgia’s Dekalb Symphony, the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, and several benefit concerts. A 1986 Curtis graduate, he conducts the Curtis Brass and Percussion Ensemble, coaches chamber music, and teaches lessons; he also serves on the faculty of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance. Mr. Bollinger joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1997.
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CARTER BREY: Cello
Mr. Brey was appointed principal cello of the New York Philharmonic in 1996 and has performed numerous times as a soloist with the orchestra under the batons of Kurt Masur, André Previn, Christian Thielemann, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Alan Gilbert, and Christoph Eschenbach. Mr. Brey rose to international attention in 1981 as a prizewinner in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition. He has also won the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Prize, Avery Fisher Career Grant, Young Concert Artists’ Michaels Award, and other honors, and he was the first musician to win the Arts Council of America’s Performing Arts Prize. Mr. Brey has performed as soloist with many of America’s major symphony orchestras. As a chamber musician, he has made regular appearances with the Tokyo and Emerson string quartets, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Spoleto Festival in the United States and Italy, and the Santa Fe and La Jolla chamber music festivals, among others. His discography includes the complete works of Chopin for cello and piano with Garrick Ohlsson (Arabesque) and The Latin American Album (Helicon Records), featuring compositions from South America and Mexico with Christopher O’Riley. Mr. Brey studied with Laurence Lesser and Stephen Kates at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and with Aldo Parisot at Yale University. Mr. Brey joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008.
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PAUL BRYAN: Elements of Conducting
Mr. Bryan is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Temple University, where he studied trombone with Glenn Dodson and Eric Carlson and conducting with David Hayes, Arthur Chodoroff, and Larry Wagner. His current positions include: artistic coordinator and conductor of Bravo Brass—the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Brass Ensemble, faculty member at Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music, music director of Symphony in C’s Summer Symphony Camp, conductor of the Reading Summer Music Institute, and conductor of the Rodney Mack Philadelphia Big Brass. Mr. Bryan has also conducted performances with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia wind and brass ensembles and the Curtis Brass and Percussion Ensemble. In demand as a guest conductor and clinician, Mr. Bryan has conducted numerous ensembles, including Drexel University’s Concert Band, 20/21: The Curtis Contemporary Music Ensemble, and various regional honor ensembles in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He has served as director of bands at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia and as a conductor at the New York Summer Music Festival in Oneonta, N.Y. Mr. Bryan, a staff member since 1993, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2009.
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CORRADINA CAPORELLO: Italian Diction
Dr. Caporello, born in Rome, received a B.A. from Columbia University, an M.A. from Queens College, and an M.Ph. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. She has taught Italian language and literature at Columbia University, John Jay College, Queens College, Hofstra University, and C. W. Post campus, Long Island University. She is the author of The Boccaccian Novella: Creation and Waning of a Genre. Dr. Caporello, a member of the Italian Honor Society, trained with Evelina Colorni. She has coached Italian operas in the United States, Canada, Italy, Israel, and China and has taught master classes in Taiwan, Japan, and Mexico, as well as in the United States. She is a member of the board of directors of the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation and has been a member of the Juilliard School faculty since 1984. Dr. Caporello joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1995.
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NORMAN CAROL: Orchestral Repertoire (Violin)
A native of Philadelphia and a 1947 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Efrem Zimbalist, Mr. Carol was concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1966 until his retirement in 1994. His professional career began at age seventeen, when he was invited to play in the first violin section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Carol has been a frequent soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and introduced to Philadelphia audiences the violin concertos of Britten, Hindemith, and Nielsen, and Bernstein’s Serenade. With the composer conducting, he performed the world premiere of Skrowaczewski’s violin concerto. He plays one of the world’s most prized violins: the exAlbert Spalding Guarnerius (del Gesù), dating from 1743. Mr. Carol joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1979.
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MARCO CEROCCHI: Italian
Born in Italy, Dr. Cerocchi earned his Ph.D. in Italian from Rutgers University and an M.A. in Italian Studies from Florida State University. He also holds a Laurea in Lettere Moderne from the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" and a diploma in piano performance from the State Conservatory of Music "Ottorino Respighi." He was a lecturer in Italian at Princeton University and is an assistant professor of Italian at LaSalle University, where he also coordinates the undergraduate Italian program. Dr. Cerocchi's articles have appeared in Forum Italicum; Italica, the official journal of the American Association of Teachers of Italian; Romance Review; and the Northeast Modern Language Association's Journal of Italian Studies, where he has been the associate editor and external reader since 2008. As a pianist, he has performed at cultural events in Italy, Sweden, Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Dr. Cerocchi joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2009.
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CHARLES CONWELL: Stage Combat and Fencing
Charles Conwell is a professor of theater at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he has taught stage combat for twenty-three years. He has directed fights for Opera Delaware, Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He is a member of the Society of American Fight Directors. Mr. Conwell joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1997.
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JONATHAN COOPERSMITH: Harmony, Counterpoint, Musical Studies for Singers, Music History
A native of Princeton, N.J., Mr. Coopersmith is the artistic director of Nashirah, the associate conductor of the Philadelphia Singers, and a guest chorus director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1998 to 2002, he served as associate conductor of the Delaware County Youth Orchestra. He has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra Society, Westminster Conservatory Orchestra, Wilmington Orchestra, University of Pennsylvania Wind Ensemble, and Penn’s Landing Orchestra. He has also served as music director for Philadelphia’s Opera on the Square, Rittenhouse Row Festival, and Festival of the Arts. Mr. Coopersmith holds a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Mannes College of Music, where he studied with David Hayes, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied music theory and composition with George Crumb, Jay Reise, and Richard Wernick. He also studied at the Pierre Monteux School of Conducting with Michael Jinbo. Mr. Coopersmith joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2005.
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ROBERT CUCKSON: Keyboard Studies, Counterpoint
Dr. Cuckson received his B.S. from the Mannes College of Music and his D.M.A. from Yale University. He studied theory with Carl Schachter, Ernst Oster, and Allen Forte and composition with Peter Pindar Stearns and Yehudi Wyner. He also studied piano with Ilona Kabos, Jeaneane Dowis, and Carlo Zecchi. From 1978 to 1987, he was dean of the Mannes College of Music, and he is co-chair of the techniques-of-music department and a member of the composition faculty there. His compositions include three operas, four concertos, chamber music, and piano works. Dr. Cuckson joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1991.
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JEFFREY CURNOW: Chamber Music (Brass)
Mr. Curnow, associate principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Temple University, where he was a student of Seymour Rosenfeld. Soon after, he was appointed principal trumpet of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and joined the New York Trumpet Ensemble. In 1987 Mr. Curnow left New Haven to record and tour as a member of the internationally renowned Empire Brass Quintet. In 1995 he was appointed principal trumpet of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He is well established as an educator, clinician, adjudicator, arranger, and producer and has taught at the universities of Connecticut, Scranton, and Boston; Tanglewood Institute; and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Mr. Curnow joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2003.
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VICTOR DANCHENKO: Violin
Mr. Danchenko has performed throughout the former U.S.S.R., Europe, and North and South America, and he has recorded for the Melodya label. Born in Moscow, he made his debut at age sixteen as soloist with the State Orchestra of the U.S.S.R. and entered the Moscow State Conservatory at seventeen as a student of violinist David Oistrakh. He won numerous national and international prizes and awards, including gold medals in the Soviet National Competition and in the World Youth and Student Festival, a top prize in the Jacques Thibaud International Competition in Paris, and the Ysaÿe Gold Medal. He has given master classes in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, Israel, Japan, and Korea and has served as a jury member of major international competitions. Mr. Danchenko is a faculty member of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and in the summer he participates in various festivals and summer schools in the United States and around the world. Mr. Danchenko joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1994.
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RICHARD DANIELPOUR: Composition
Dr. Danielpour has been commissioned by many international music institutions, festivals, and artists, including soloists Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, Emanuel Ax, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Hampson, and Gary Graffman; the Guarneri, Emerson, and American string quartets and Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio; and institutions such as the New York City and Pacific Northwest ballets, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia and Stuttgart Radio orchestras, Orchestre National de France, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and many more. With Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison he created Margaret Garner, his first opera, which premiered to sold-out houses in Detroit, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia in 2005 and had its New York premiere at New York City Opera in 2007. Dr. Danielpour has received a Grammy Award, two Rockefeller Foundation grants, Charles Ives Fellowship and Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Guggenheim Fellowship, Bearns Prize from Columbia University, and grants and residencies from the Barlow Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Copland House, and American Academy in Rome. In 2002 he was awarded a fellowship to the American Academy in Berlin, and he was the third composer—after Stravinsky and Copland—to be signed to an exclusive recording contract by Sony Classical. On the Manhattan School of Music’s composition faculty since 1993, Dr. Danielpour joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1997.
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JOSEPH DE PASQUALE: Viola, Orchestral Repertoire (Viola)
A 1942 Curtis graduate, Mr. de Pasquale studied with Louis Bailly, Max Aronoff, and William Primrose; he also prizes his association with Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky, with whom he recorded and performed in Carnegie Hall. Mr. de Pasquale joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as principal viola in 1947. In Boston he premiered a concerto composed for him by Walter Piston, and he gave the first Boston performances of concertos by Walton and Milhaud. He joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal viola in 1964, a position he held until his retirement in 1996. He has appeared as a soloist frequently with the Philadelphia Orchestra and has made numerous appearances as a soloist with other orchestras in the United States and abroad, including the Hanover Symphony under Aldo Ceccato and the Hamburg Symphony under Klaus Tennstedt. Mr. de Pasquale has served on the faculties of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Indiana University School of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, and Tanglewood Institute. Albany Records released his CD Soaring Spirit in 2005. A member of the de Pasquale String Quartet, Mr. de Pasquale joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1964.
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ROBERTO DÍAZ: The James and Betty Matarese Chair in Viola Studies
President, Viola
Mr. Díaz's biography can be found here.
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KRISTIN DITLOW: Vocal Studies Pianist
Ms. Ditlow is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (B.M., piano performance and vocal accompanying) and Westminster Choir College (M.M., accompanying and coaching). She was a founding member of the award-winning Muhlenberg Piano Quartet, and she is the founding and current pianist of the Lukens Piano Trio. She has appeared extensively in the United States, Italy, England, and the Czech Republic as a vocal accompanist and chamber musician. Ms. Ditlow has held summer fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Center; the G. B. Martini Conservatory of Music in Bologna, Italy (through the support of the Princeton-Pettoranello Sister-City Foundation); and San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program. She has served as a diction professor and vocal coach at Westminster Choir College and Opera in the Ozarks, and is on the piano faculty of Settlement Music School in Philadelphia. Her production credits for opera companies include the Princeton Festival, Delaware Valley Opera Company, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Westminster Choir College, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.  Ms. Ditlow joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007.
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MIKAEL ELIASEN: The Hirsig Family Head-of-Department Chair in Vocal Studies
Artistic Director of the Curtis Opera Theatre, Opera and Voice Coach
Danishborn coach and accompanist Mr. Eliasen received his early training in Copenhagen, Montreal, and Vienna. He has collaborated with numerous singers in recital worldwide, including Robert Merrill, Tom Krause, John Shirley-Quirk, Elly Ameling, Edith Mathis, Florence Quivar, Mira Zakai, Sarah Walker, Joan Patenaude-Yarnell, and Curtis alumni Theodor Uppman, Michael Schade, and Rinat Shaham. He has recorded for Albany Records, CBC, Hilversum Radio, Polish State Radio, Kol Israel, Irish Radio and Television, London Records, MHS, and Supraphon. Mr. Eliasen has given master classes at Aix-en-Provence, the Shanghai Conservatory, Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Moscow), Jerusalem Music Center, and National Opera of Prague. He has a long association with the young-artist programs at the Royal Danish Opera and the Opera Studio of Amsterdam. In the United States, he works regularly at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, LA Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Eliasen was music director of the San Francisco Opera Center from 1994 to 1996 and artistic director of the European Center for Opera and Vocal Art in Belgium from 1984 to 1994. For twenty years he has taught at Chautauqua’s Voice Program during the summers. Mr. Eliasen joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1986 and became the head of the department in 1988.
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NORMAN ELLMAN: French
Mr. Ellman graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. degree in French from Dartmouth College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received an M.A. in Romance languages from the University of Pennsylvania and completed all exams and coursework toward the doctorate. He has studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Strasbourg and was appointed assistant diplômé, conducting English-conversation classes at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He has taught French language and literature at Saint Joseph’s University and at Rutgers University in Camden and has instructed all levels of French at the Alliance Française in Philadelphia. Mr. Ellman was professor-in-residence for semester-abroad programs in La Napoule, France and in Strasbourg. In 2006 and 2007 Mr. Ellman taught French Literature in English Translation at Rutgers University, a course that included a trip to the Loire Valley, Versailles, and Paris. In addition to French, he speaks German, Italian, and Spanish. Mr. Ellman joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2004.
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LEON FLEISHER: Piano
A student of the great Artur Schnabel, Mr. Fleisher made his debut at Carnegie Hall with Pierre Monteux and the New York Philharmonic at age fifteen and quickly established himself as one of the world's premier classical pianists. He performs and conducts with many national and international orchestras, and during the 2008–09 season he appeared in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, and San Francisco, ending the year with a sold-out concert with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic. Two Hands, a short documentary film by Nathaniel Kahn about Mr. Fleisher’s battle with and triumph over right-hand focal dystonia, was a 2007 Academy Award nominee, and he was also featured in a one-hour documentary, Lessons of a Master, by Mark Kidel. Mr. Fleisher was one of the distinguished recipients of the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors, and he was awarded the rank of Commander in the French government Order of Arts and Letters in 2005. In 2008 Sony BMG Masterworks released The Essential Leon Fleisher, an anthology of highlights from his greatest recordings. In 2009 the same label released Mr. Fleisher’s first two-hand concerto recording in over forty years— Mozart Piano Concertos K. 414, 488, and 242 with his wife, Katherine Jacobson Fleisher, and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Fleisher joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1986.
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CLAUDE FRANK: Piano
Mr. Frank began piano studies in his native Germany and continued in France and then the United States with Artur Schnabel and Karl Ulrich Schnabel. He studied composition at Columbia University and conducting with Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood. Since his debut with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1959, he has performed with most major symphony orchestras in the United States, Europe, and South America, and he has toured on six continents. He has recorded all thirty-two Beethoven piano sonatas for RCA, as well as Mozart concertos and chamber music. His late wife is the pianist Lilian Kallir, and their violinist daughter, Pamela, graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1989. Mr. Frank is on the faculty of the Yale School of Music, and he joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1988.
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PAMELA FRANK: Violin, Chamber Music (Strings)
Ms. Frank, a 1989 Curtis graduate, has performed regularly with today’s most distinguished soloists and ensembles, including the orchestras of Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Baltimore, as well as the Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Israel philharmonics. As a recitalist, she has performed in the major cities of the world. Her chamber music projects include performances with such artists as Peter Serkin, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, and her father, Claude Frank, and frequent appearances with the Academy of St. MartinintheFields, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Musicians from Marlboro. With Claude Frank at the piano, she has recorded the complete Beethoven sonata cycle for Music Masters Classics and an all-Schubert disc. For Sony Classical Ms. Frank recorded the Chopin Piano Trio and Schubert Trout Quintet with Mr. Ax and Mr. Ma. On Decca she has recorded all of the Mozart violin concertos, the Dvorak concerto, and, with Peter Serkin, the complete Brahms sonata cycle. In 1999 she was awarded a coveted Avery Fisher Prize. Ms. Frank joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1996.
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ANNA FRÉ: Vocal Studies Pianist
Anna Fré has worked extensively throughout Italy, as well as the rest of Europe, for the past fifteen years. She served as a coach and staff pianist at the International Academy of Music in Milan. She has also held music staff positions at the Institute for the International Education of Students in Milan, working with American singers; Fraschini Theatre in Pavia; Lyric and Concert Association in Milan; and Academy Tito Gobbi in Pavia. Ms. Fré studied piano at Arrigo Boito Conservatory in Parma and opera repertoire at the International Academy of Music in Milan, and she holds degrees in modern languages and literature. In 2002 she served as the Italian coach for the Opera Company of Philadelphia production of Don Giovanni. Ms. Fré joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007.
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PETER GAFFNEY: Language and Literature, Modernism
Born in Seattle, Dr. Gaffney received his B.A. from Stanford University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in comparative literature and literary theory. He has taught courses in American literature, French and Italian language, and English composition at University of Pennsylvania and the Université de Paris X-Nanterre, and he has worked as art director at Leo Burnett advertising agency in Prague. His interests include avant-garde art and literature, psychoanalysis, and experimental cinema, and he is editing a collection of essays on philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Dr. Gaffney joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2006.
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MATTHEW GLANDORF: Music History, Counterpoint, Preparatory Solfège, Madrigals, Sacred Music Seminar
Mr. Glandorf has an active career as a conductor, composer, church musician, and educator. He was raised in Germany, where he received early instruction at the organ at the Bremen Cathedral with Wolfgang Baumgratz. At age sixteen he entered the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of John Weaver and Ford Lallerstedt. He pursued graduate studies with McNeil Robinson at the Manhattan School of Music. In 2004 he was appointed as artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, and in 2008 he became the artistic director of the Bach Festival of Philadelphia. He has served as director of music for many Philadelphia churches, including Old St. Joseph’s, Old Pine Street Presbyterian, and Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion. As an organist he is noted for his improvisation and has played recitals throughout the United States and in England and Germany, including Rochester Cathedral, Ulm Munster, the Cathedral of Bremen, the Wanamaker Grand Court organ, and the new organ in Verizon Hall. He has made several recordings as an organist and an accompanist. Mr. Glandorf has served on the faculties of Swarthmore College and Westminster Choir College and joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1995.
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GARY GRAFFMAN: Piano
Mr. Graffman has been a major figure in the music world since his debut with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of eighteen. For the next three decades he toured almost continuously, playing the most demanding works in the piano literature. His numerous recordings with the orchestras of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, and Chicago under such conductors as Bernstein, Ormandy, Szell, and Mehta include concertos by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Brahms, Chopin, and Beethoven; they are still regarded as touchstones. In 1979, however, an injury to his right hand limited Mr. Graffman’s concertizing to the small body of repertoire for left hand alone. Since then seven new works have been commissioned for him, and he continues to have an active performing career. Mr. Graffman’s association with the Curtis Institute of Music began in 1936, when he was accepted, at the age of seven, to study with Isabelle Vengerova. He graduated in 1946. In 1980, following his performance-reducing injury, he joined the Curtis piano faculty. From 1986 through May 2006, he served as director of Curtis, as well as president from 1995.
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ROGER GRANT: Harmony, Keyboard Harmony, Solfège
Roger Mathew Grant is a Ph.D. candidate in the theory of music at the University of Pennsylvania. His dissertation concerns theories, ideologies, and technologies of musical periodicity from 1600 through the present day. He has published on the history of meter, music cognition, and the philosophy of music theory in Eighteenth-Century Music and in Music Theory Online. His review of the recent translation of Jean-Luc Nancy’s À L’Écoute will appear in the Journal of the American Musicological Society. In the fall of 2008 he received the Dean’s Dissertation Research Award from the University of Pennsylvania, which allowed him to study J. P. Kirnberger’s personal library at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. He is also an active professional countertenor and especially enjoys singing fifteenth-century polyphony from facsimile. Mr. Grant joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008.
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GORDANA-DANA GROZDANIC: German
Dr. Grozdanic’s undergraduate work was in philosophy, sociology, and German language and literature at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, where she also completed her M.A. in linguistics and philology. She earned her doctorate from the Germanic languages and literatures department at the University of Pennsylvania. In her dissertation, “Der Balkankrieg als literarisches Phänomen. Auseinandersetzungen deutschsprachiger Autoren,” she explores the reactions of prominent German-speaking contemporary authors to the wars in the former Yugoslavia. She has studied in Köln, Germany, and has taught a wide range of introductory and upper-level German language and literature courses. Dr. Grozdanic joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007.
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ELIZBETH HAINEN: Harp
Ms. Hainen has won international acclaim performing as a recitalist and concerto soloist throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. Solo engagements have included the Anchorage, Mexico State, and New World symphonies; Chicago Civic Orchestra; Dance Theater of Harlem; Paris Opera Ballet; and Vienna Boys Choir, in addition to numerous performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center, and Orchestra Hall in Chicago. An active chamber musician, Ms. Hainen has performed at the Grand Tetons, Kingston, and Marlboro festivals. She performed the closing recital for the 2005 Korean National Harp Festival and the opening recital for the 2004 American Harp Society’s National Conference. Ms. Hainen can be heard on her debut recording of nineteenth-century romantic solo works on the Naxos label and on a series of recordings by Lyon & Healy’s Egan label. She is the principal harp of the Philadelphia Orchestra and founding director of the Lyra Society Fund, an organization to promote new works for the harp and educate young harpists. Ms. Hainen teaches at the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University and joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2005.
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NITZAN HAROZ: Trombone
Mr. Haroz, who was born in Israel, joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal trombone in 1995. He served as assistant principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic and principal trombone of the Rishon-Le Zion Symphony and Opera Orchestra. He was also first trombone of the Israel Defense Forces Orchestra and performed with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Haroz has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Rishon-Le Zion Symphony, and the Sofia Radio Symphony, among others, and is an active chamber musician. He won first prize at the François Shapira Competition and received America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarships. He has commissioned and premiered several works for trombone and harp and has given recitals and master classes in Israel, the United States, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Haroz has also performed with the New York, Philadelphia, and Israel brass ensembles and the Rishon-Le Zion and Israel Defense Forces brass quintets. Mr. Haroz is on the faculty of Temple University and joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1998.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Nitzan Haroz from Overtones, Spring 2005.
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MARY-JEAN B. HAYDEN: English as a Second Language
Ms. Hayden received her B.A. in English literature from Oberlin in 1955 and her M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 in TESOL/ Intercultural Communication. A piano student of Moshe Paranov and George Reeves, she taught solfège at the New School of Music from 1976 to 1986, as well as English as a Second Language from 1984 to 1986. A faculty member of Temple Music Prep from 1986, Ms. Hayden joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1986 and served as director of student services from 1990 to 2001, and international student advisor from 1995 to 2001.
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DAVID HAYES: Staff Conductor
Trained as a violinist and violist, Mr. Hayes received his Bachelor of Music in musicology from the University of Hartford and a Diploma in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Otto-Werner Mueller. He also studied with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School. He is music director of the Philadelphia Singers, a member of the conducting staff of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and director of orchestral and conducting studies at the Mannes College of Music. Mr. Hayes has conducted several operas in Belgium and the Czech Republic. At Curtis he has led Adams’s Death of Klinghoffer, Britten’s Albert Herring and The Rape of Lucretia, Bizet/Brook’s La Tragédie de Carmen, Weill’s Mahagonny and Happy End, Handel’s Alcina, Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and La rondine, and Stravinsky’s Les noces. Guest-conducting engagements include concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Washington Chorus, Louisiana Philharmonic, and the Verbier Festival. Mr. Hayes joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1990.
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SARAH HATSUKO HICKS: Staff Conductor
Ms. Hicks is associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, where she is also conductor of the innovative new series Inside the Classics. She has been appointed associate conductor for the North Carolina Symphony. She has served as associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony, resident conductor of the Florida Philharmonic, and assistant conductor of both the Reading Symphony and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. Guest-conducting appearances include the Atlanta, San Francisco, Detroit, Milwaukee, National, and Columbus symphony orchestras; the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and the Prime Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea). Also a pianist and composer, Ms. Hicks received her Diploma in conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music, and she is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University with a B.A. in music composition. More information is available at www.sarahhatsukohicks.com. Ms. Hicks joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2000.
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JENNIFER HIGDON: The Rock Chair in Composition
Composition
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., but raised in the South, Dr. Higdon received a Bachelor of Music from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, a Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1988, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition she has studied conducting with Robert Spano and flute with Judith Bentley. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Pew Fellowship, and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her works are performed around the world, with commissions coming from a variety of ensembles and individuals, such as the Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras; the Atlanta, Chicago, Indianapolis, National, and Toronto symphony orchestras; St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Gary Graffman; Hilary Hahn; the President’s Own Marine Band; Tokyo String Quartet; Philadelphia Singers; Mendelssohn Club; eighth blackbird; and San Francisco Opera. She has works on dozens of recordings, including the Grammy-winning Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra/City Scape. Dr. Higdon joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1994.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Jennifer Higdon from Overtones, Fall 2005.
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CAROL JANTSCH: Tuba
Carol Jantsch was appointed principal tuba of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2006 as the first female tuba player in a major symphony orchestra. She won this position while a senior at the University of Michigan, from which she earned her Bachelor of Music. Ms. Jantsch also studied at the prestigious boarding high school Interlochen Arts Academy. Her numerous awards and honors include first prize in four international solo tuba competitions, an appearance on NPR’s From the Top, and a solo performance in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. She is in high demand as a soloist and a master-class artist. She recently released her first solo recording, Cascades, featuring a variety of works that stretch the virtuosic capabilities of the tuba. For more information, visit www.caroljantsch.com. Ms. Jantsch joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008.
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FRANK KADERABEK: Trumpet
Mr. Kaderabek served as principal trumpet with the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1975 until his retirement in 1995. His previous appointments included principal of the Dallas and Detroit symphonies and assistant principal of the Chicago Symphony. Mr. Kaderabek has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Bach Festival in Cranbrook, and Pennsylvania Symphonia Orchestra. In 1982 he was the first American judge at the International Trumpet Competition in Czechoslovakia. His recordings include the solo CDs An American Trumpet in Prague and Virtuoso, trumpet and cornet solos with the Allentown Band, conducted by Ronald Demkee. The 1991 Annual New York Brass Conference honored Mr. Kaderabek for his contribution to performance and teaching. He serves on the executive board of the International Trumpet Guild, which presented him with the Award of Merit in 2004. In June 2007 he soloed at Carnegie Hall, receiving a standing ovation. Mr. Kaderabek teaches at West Chester University and joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1975.
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PHILIP J. KASS: History of the Violin, Curator of String Instruments
Mr. Kass is a respected expert, appraiser, consultant, and writer about fine classic stringed instruments and bows. From 1977 until 2002, he was an associate of William Moennig & Son, Ltd. of Philadelphia, where he handled many of the world’s great stringed instruments. He has published numerous articles in such journals as the Strad, the journal of the Violin Society of America, Smithsonian, and Strings, as well as preparing numerous entries for both the previous and current editions of the New Grove’s Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians and Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. He was a contributing author to The British Violin, published by the British Violin Makers Association in 1999. Since 1981 he has been a frequent lecturer for the Violin Society of America, the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, and the British Violin Makers Association. A member of the Violin Society of America since 1975, he has served on its board of directors since 1976, as vice president from 1985 to 1997, and as president from 1997 until early 1999. Mr. Kass joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2006.
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IDA KAVAFIAN: Violin
Internationally acclaimed as a violist as well as violinist, Ms. Kavafian is an artist-member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and former violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio. She performs as a soloist; in recital with her sister, Ani; as a guest with ensembles such as the Guarneri, Orion, and American string quartets; and as artistic director of music for Angel Fire in New Mexico. She is also on the faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Ms. Kavafian has premiered numerous works, including concerti by Toru Takemitsu and Michael Daugherty; has toured and recorded with jazz greats Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis, as well as fiddler/composer Mark O’Connor; and had a solo feature on CBS Sunday Morning. Cofounder of the group Tashi, Ms. Kavafian also cofounded the piano quartet OPUS ONE. Born in Istanbul of Armenian parentage, she is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with Oscar Shumsky. She resides with her husband, violist Steven Tenenbom, in Philadelphia and Connecticut, where they breed and train prizewinning Hungarian vizsla show dogs. Ms. Kavafian joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1998.
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LISA KELLER: Opera and Voice Coach
Ms. Keller was educated at Catholic University and the Brevard Music Center summer program, receiving a degree in piano performance, summa cum laude. She received her master’s degree with the same distinction from Duquesne University, where she studied with Metropolitan Opera coach Warren Jones. Upon finishing her graduate work, Ms. Keller was invited by Pittsburgh Opera general director Tito Capobianco to join the company as principal répétiteur, as well as coach and accompanist for its young artist program. She later served as pianist and vocal coach for the Hartt School of Music, Connecticut Concert Opera, and West Chester University School of Music. Ms. Keller has studied with Maurizio Arena and served as vocal coach for the Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera program in Oderzo, Italy. She serves on the music faculties of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Colorado, New Jersey Opera Theater, and Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Santa Fe Opera. Ms. Keller joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2004.
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JEFFREY KHANER: Flute, Chamber Music (Woodwinds)
In 1990 Mr. Khaner joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal flute, a position he had held with the Cleveland Orchestra since 1982. Prior to his Cleveland appointment, Mr. Khaner was principal flute of the Atlantic Symphony in Halifax, Canada, and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, and co-principal flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony. A native of Montreal, Mr. Khaner studied with Julius Baker at the Juilliard School, where he received a Bachelor of Music degree with honors in 1980. Mr. Khaner has given recitals and master classes across North and South America, Europe, and Asia, and he has appeared as a soloist with the Montreal Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and many others in the United States and abroad. Additional information is available at his website: www.iflute.com. Mr. Khaner, who also teaches at the Juilliard School, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1985.
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JUNGEUN KIM: Director of Instrumental Accompaniment and Outside Performances
Ms. Kim began piano studies at age three and made her public debut at age eight. After winning a Presidential Prize in the Korean National Music Competition, she performed with the Korean National Philharmonic. As a scholarship recipient, she earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School. She has won numerous awards, including the Young Musicians Foundation Competition and VOCE Competition in Los Angeles. In addition Ms. Kim has performed as a recitalist and guest artist with orchestras and ensembles in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, and the Far East, and she has appeared on CBS, CBC, Voice of America, and NPR broadcasts. She has been featured in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s chamber music series and from 2002 to 2005 served as director of the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival and Institute. In 2005 she founded the New York Summer Music Festival, where she serves as the executive director. Ms. Kim became a staff pianist at the Curtis Institute of Music in 1999, administrative coordinator of concerts and recitals in 2004, and director of instrumental accompaniment and outside performances in 2009.
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MERL F. KIMMEL: History
Mr. Kimmel received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the Pennsylvania State University and holds a J.D. from Temple University School of Law. Prior to teaching at Curtis, he taught at Hollidaysburg Senior High School. Mr. Kimmel joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1984.
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MICHAEL KRAUSZ: Aesthetics
Dr. Krausz is the Milton C. Nahm Professor of Philosophy at Bryn Mawr College. Trained at the universities of Toronto (Ph.D.) and Oxford, he has been a visiting professor at leading universities in the United States, England, Germany, Israel, Egypt, and India. Dr. Krausz is the author of the recently published Interpretation and Transformation: Explorations in Art and the Self. He is also author of Rightness and Reasons: Interpretation in Cultural Practices and Limits of Rightness, as well as coauthor of Varieties of Relativism. Dr. Krausz is a contributing editor of eleven volumes, including The Interpretation of Music: Philosophical Essays. A volume dedicated to his philosophical work, entitled Interpretation and Its Objects: Studies in the Philosophy of Michael Krausz, was published in 2003. As a visual artist, Dr. Krausz has had twenty-two solo exhibitions. He is also a former violin student of Josef Gingold and has conducted professional orchestras in Bulgaria. Since 2004 he has been the artistic director and conductor of the Great Hall Chamber Orchestra at Bryn Mawr. Dr. Krausz joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2002.
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PAUL KRZYWICKI: Tuba, Orchestral Repertoire (Brass)
Mr. Krzywicki was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1972 until his retirement in 2005. A native of Philadelphia, he attended St. Joseph’s Preparatory School and began studies with Leo Romano, continuing later with his Philadelphia Orchestra predecessor, Abe Torchinsky. He went on to receive Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and a performer’s certificate from Indiana University, where he studied with William J. Bell and became his teaching assistant. Mr. Krzywicki received a Fromm Foundation fellowship to Tanglewood in 1965 and the same year performed Fantasy for Tuba and Strings by his brother, Jan, with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He performed the premiere of Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra by his brother and Concerto for Three Trombones and Tuba by Ray Premru, which was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1985. Mr. Krzywicki was a member of the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point; Portland Symphony; New York Brass Sextet; and Boston Ballet, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Aspen Music Festival orchestras. He served on the Fulbright Grant screening committee for three years. He also received the C. Hartman Kuhn Award, presented by the Philadelphia Orchestra, in 1985. Mr. Krzywicki joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1972.
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LIO KUOKMAN: Staff Accompanist
Lio Kuokman, from Macau, China, has led the Portland Repertory Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada, and, while on tour in China, the Macau Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has served as apprentice conductor of the New York Youth Symphony for two years. In 2008 he was invited by Pinchas Zukerman to the National Arts Centre Conductors Programme in Canada, where he conducted the orchestra's gala performance. The same year he was awarded the David Effron Conducting Fellowship to serve as conducting fellow at the Chautauqua Institution. Mr. Lio has assisted in opera productions including Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Carmen, and Ainadamar. In 2009 he led the Curtis On Tour ensemble, a group of students and faculty members, in performances across the country, from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to the Mondavi Center for the Arts in Davis, Calif. He has given recitals internationally and performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg Camerata, Bacau Philharmonic in Romania, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He received a master's degree in piano performance from the Juilliard School and graduated from Curtis with diplomas in conducting and harpsichord. Mr. Lio joined the Curtis Institute of Music as staff accompanist in 2009.
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FORD MYLIUS LALLERSTEDT: Orchestral Score-Reading, Advanced Solfège
A native of Atlanta, Dr. Lallerstedt began studying piano at age five. He studied organ with Vernon de Tar at the Juilliard School, where, in 1973, he won both prizes in organ performance and was awarded teaching fellowships in piano and solfège. Dr. Lallerstedt received his Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Juilliard. He studied musicology with Gustave Reese, conducting with Warren Brown, and musical analysis with Jacob Druckman, Vincent Persichetti, and Roger Sessions. He made his New York debut at Alice Tully Hall in 1979 and has performed in Europe and throughout the United States. Dr. Lallerstedt founded the Wahnfried Chamber Orchestra, and he serves as regular accompanist and recital partner for mezzo-soprano Brenda Boozer. He has been on the faculties of the Juilliard School, State University of New York at Purchase, Mannes College of Music (organ), and Tanglewood Music Center (conducting studies). He is director of music at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Kisco, N.Y. Dr. Lallerstedt joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1973.
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SEYMOUR LIPKIN: Piano
Mr. Lipkin received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1947, studying piano with Rudolf Serkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, and David Saperton. In 1948 he won the Rachmaninoff Competition, as a pianist, and has since played with all of the major United States orchestras. He has earned particular acclaim for his Beethoven cycles, which have encompassed not only the thirty-two piano sonatas and five concertos, but the ten violin sonatas and five cello sonatas as well. His recording of the piano sonatas was released on the Newport Classic label in 2004. He recently performed a cycle of the major works of Schubert, including the complete piano sonatas; his recordings of these works were recently released on Newport Classic. Mr. Lipkin studied conducting at Tanglewood with Serge Koussevitzky and was apprentice conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. He continued his conducting career at the New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic (assistant conductor, under Bernstein), Joffrey Ballet (music director), and Long Island Symphony (music director). He is artistic director of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Me., and served as artistic director of the International Piano Festival and William Kapell Competition at the University of Maryland. Visit his website at www.seymourlipkin.com. A member of the Juilliard faculty since 1986, Mr. Lipkin joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1969.
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MENG-CHIEH LIU: Piano, Chamber Music (Piano), Resident Pianist
A recipient of the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Mr. Liu first made headlines in 1993 as a twenty-one-year-old student at the Curtis Institute of Music, when he substituted for André Watts at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia with three hours’ notice. The concert earned high acclaim from critics and audience alike and was followed by a number of widely praised performances, including a recital at the Kennedy Center and a concert on the Philadelphia All-Star Series. A dedicated chamber musician, as well as a solo artist, he has collaborated with musicians in North America, Europe, and Asia, in addition to working with artists in other disciplines, including Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak Dance Project. Mr. Liu received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Jorge Bolet, Eleanor Sokoloff, and Claude Frank. He received the 2002 Philadelphia Musical Fund Society Career Advancement Award and first prizes in the Stravinsky, Asia Pacific Piano, and Mieczyslaw Munz competitions. Mr. Liu has been on the faculty of Roosevelt University since 2006 and joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1993.
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DON LIUZZI: Timpani and Percussion, Orchestral Repertoire
(Brass and Percussion)
A native of Weymouth, Mass., Mr. Liuzzi joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal timpani in 1989. He was a percussionist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, taught at Duquesne University, and was assistant conductor of the Three Rivers Young People’s Orchestra. He also performed marimba and percussion solos on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on PBS. Mr. Liuzzi has given master classes on four continents, including regular coaching for the New World Symphony, National Orchestral Institute, Pacific Music Festival, and Canton International Summer Music Academy in China. He has been an active chamber-music performer with the Network for New Music, recording for the Albany and CRI labels, and has two new solo and chamber releases with the Equilibrium label. He has performed as a timpani soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, China Philharmonic, and Sapporo and Guangzhou symphony orchestras. A Yamaha performing artist, Mr. Liuzzi performs on the newly designed Yamaha Dresden-style timpani. He was coordinating producer for the documentary film Music from the Inside Out. He is the founder and conductor of 20/21: The Curtis Contemporary Music Ensemble. Mr. Liuzzi, who earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan and his Master of Music degree from Temple University, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1994.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Don Liuzzi from Overtones, Spring 2004.
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MARY KINDER LOISELLE: Foundations of Engagement, Director of Community Engagement and Career Development Services
Ms. Loiselle headed the public relations offices of three major orchestras (Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Detroit) and has held public relations positions at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.; CBS Masterworks Records; and Shuman Associates, Inc. (N.Y.). She also was director of education and community partnerships for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ms. Loiselle has taught at Drexel (business communication) and West Chester (theory and ear training) universities and was a teaching fellow at the Eastman School of Music (music theory). As a professional career and life coach, she works with clients and groups and leads seminars and retreats on a variety of subjects. She earned a B.S. in music education at West Chester University, where she continued with a master’s program in music history. She did further graduate work at Temple University and Ph.D. studies in music theory at the Eastman School of Music. She received her coach training through Coach U and is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training. Ms. Loiselle joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007.
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JUDY LOMAN: The Maryjane Mayhew Barton Chair in Harp Studies
Harp
Ms. Loman is a 1956 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Carlos Salzedo. Principal harp of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1960 to 2001, she retired from that orchestra to devote her time to teaching, concertizing, and publishing her numerous transcriptions and arrangements. A frequent soloist with the Toronto Symphony, she has also appeared as guest soloist with major orchestras in North America and Europe. Ms. Loman has commissioned several harp works from Canada’s foremost composers and has introduced these compositions worldwide through recordings and in solo recitals throughout North America, Europe, Israel, and Japan. Her extensive discography has proven valuable to harpists and composers as material from which to study harp compositions of all generations. Ms. Loman’s students fill positions in major orchestras throughout North America and Europe, and she has adjudicated at the International Harp Competition in Israel and the U.S.A. International Harp Competition. Professor of harp at the University of Toronto and faculty member at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ms. Loman joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1998.
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DAVID LUDWIG: Acting Chair of Musical Studies, Composition, 20/21 Ensemble Artistic Director, Music History
Dr. Ludwig’s music has been performed internationally by leading musicians of today in some of the world’s most prestigious venues. His music—which has been called “entrancing”—“promises to speak for the sorrows of this generation” (Philadelphia Inquirer). It has gained further recognition for its “expressive directness” (New York Times). He has received awards from Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, American Composers Forum, and the Theodore Presser and Independence foundations. He holds residencies with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, New York Summer Music Festival, the Atlantic Music Festival, and the Vermont Symphony, where he is a Meet the Composer “Music Alive!” resident composer. Other residencies have included the Yaddo and MacDowell colonies and the Marlboro Music School. Dr. Ludwig holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Ludwig joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2002.
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MARLENA KLEINMAN MALAS: Voice
An internationally renowned recitalist, Ms. Malas graduated from the voice program of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1960. She has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Studio and has been affiliated with opera companies in New York City; Santa Fe; Boston; Miami; Washington, D.C.; and Milwaukee. She has been a soloist with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra and has appeared at the Marlboro, Casals, and Ravinia festivals. Ms. Malas is chair of the voice department at the Chautauqua Institution and a faculty member of the Juilliard and Manhattan schools of music. She has given master classes in connection with the Metropolitan Opera and at New National Theatre in Tokyo, Pittsburgh Opera young artists program, Boston University, Blossom Music Festival, San Francisco Opera Center, Santa Fe Opera, European Center for Opera and Vocal Arts in Brussels, Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, and (with Joan Sutherland and Luigi Alva) Australian Opera in Sydney. She is a consultant to the Canadian Opera Center; Fletcher Opera Institute, where she has given master classes; and Washington Opera Young Artist Program, where she is also a teacher. Ms. Malas joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1986.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Marlena Kleinman Malas from Overtones, Fall 2008.
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JOHN R. MANGAN: Dean
Dr. Mangan has held administrative and teaching posts at Yale University for the last seven years, most recently as assistant dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and lecturer in the Department of History. From 2002 to 2006 he worked in undergraduate academic and student affairs at Yale as dean of Jonathan Edwards College, long regarded as Yale’s music and arts residential college. Dr. Mangan holds a Ph.D. in history and education from Columbia University. A classical guitarist with extensive performing experience, he earned a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In addition to his major administrative and teaching positions at Yale, Dr. Mangan worked in student affairs at Middlebury College as dean of Ross Commons. As music critic for the daily New Haven Register for several years, he wrote both classical music and theatre reviews; and he served as music librarian and program annotator for the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Dr. Mangan joined the staff of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2009.
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DENISE MASSÉ: French Repertoire Coach
Ms. Massé has worked with some of the leading musical institutions in the world, including the Metropolitan, Los Angeles, and Washington National operas; Berlin and Wiener staatsopers; and Paris Théatre des Champs Élysées, as well as the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, and Montreal orchestras, under conductors such as Colin Davis, James Levine, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Barenboim, and Charles Dutoit. She has collaborated on the preparation of many recordings for Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, and Warner Classics. She works regularly with the young artists programs in Los Angeles, Washington, and Montreal. Ms. Massé, who is also on the faculty at Juilliard, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2006.
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DANIEL MATSUKAWA: Bassoon, Chamber Music (Woodwinds)
Mr. Matsukawa is principal bassoon of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was a pupil of Bernard Garfield. He also studied at the Juilliard School and precollege with Harold Goltzer and at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division with Alan Futterman. He has been a recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including a solo concerto debut in Carnegie Hall at age eighteen. Since then he has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra; National, Virginia, and Curtis symphony orchestras; New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider; Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand; and Sapporo Symphony in Japan. He has participated in festivals including Marlboro, Tanglewood, Aspen, Saito Kinen, and Pacific Music Festival in Japan. Mr. Matsukawa was principal bassoon of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., for three seasons. He has also served as principal with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, and Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Matsukawa joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2002.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Daniel Matsukawa from Overtones, Fall 2006.
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VINCENT MCCARTHY: Humanities
Dr. McCarthy received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in religion and philosophy and is professor of philosophy at Saint Joseph’s University, where he has also served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and provost. He studied at Union Theological Seminary, Fordham University (A.B., Classics), Yale University, the University of Paris (Fellow of the French Foreign Ministry), and the University of Copenhagen (Marshall Fellow). He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar and Humboldt Fellow at the University of Tuebingen, Germany, and was dean of a University of Maryland Germany campus. He has been guest professor at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. McCarthy’s specialties include nineteenth-century philosophy, religious thought, and culture, and he has published widely in these areas. He is the author of a study of Kierkegaard’s psychology and of a study of the role of religion in nineteenth-century German philosophy. Dr. McCarthy joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2005.
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ROBERT MCDONALD: The Penelope P. Watkins Chair in Piano Studies
Piano
Mr. McDonald tours extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. He has appeared with major orchestras in the United States and was the recital partner for many years to Isaac Stern and other distinguished instrumentalists. He has played with the Takács, Vermeer, Juilliard, Brentano, Borromeo, American, Shanghai, and St. Lawrence string quartets, as well as Music from Marlboro. His discography includes recordings for Sony Classical, Bridge, Vox, Musical Heritage Society, ASV, and CRI. Mr. McDonald’s prizes include the gold medal at the Busoni International Piano Competition, the top prize at the William Kapell International Competition, and the Deutsche Schallplatten Critics Award. With degrees from Lawrence University, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music, he studied with Theodore Rehl, Seymour Lipkin, Rudolf Serkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Beveridge Webster, and Gary Graffman. A member of the piano faculty at Juilliard since 1999, Mr. McDonald joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007.
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DANIEL MCDOUGALL: The Twenty-First-Century Musician
A native of California, Mr. McDougall entered the Curtis Institute of Music as a double bass major, studying with Roger Scott. Since receiving his Bachelor of Music degree in 1993, he has built a varied career that has included performing chamber and orchestral music on double bass, serving as an organist and choir director, and playing harpsichord with the Curtis Chamber Orchestra during its 2004 tour of Japan. He has participated in numerous international music festivals, including Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Music by the Red Sea, and Festival dei Due Mondi. He is a member of the Delaware Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, and Pennsylvania Ballet orchestra, among others. He joined the Curtis staff in 1993; from 2001 to 2004, he served as director of student services and international student advisor. Mr. McDougall joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2004.
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JEANNE M. MCGINN: Chair of Liberal Arts Department; English Literature
Dr. McGinn received her B.A. from Bucknell University; her M.A. as a Rotary International Fellow from University College Cork, Ireland; and her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College. Her awards include the grand prize in the University of Galway Poetry Competition, the Seymour Adelman Prize in Poetry, and a Whiting Foundation Grant. Dr. McGinn has read her award-winning poems at venues at home and abroad, and she has published most recently in Cimarron Review. Composer Jennifer Higdon set six of her poems in a work for violin, orchestra, and chorus; the Philadelphia Orchestra premiered The Singing Rooms in January 2008, and the Atlanta Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra premiered the work in 2009. Dr. McGinn has presented her scholarship at conferences of the Modernist Studies Association, International Association of the Study of Irish Literature, the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, Brazilian Studies Association, and Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco. Dr. McGinn was a member of the Curtis Institute of Music faculty from 1994 to 1999 and was appointed chair of liberal arts in 2001.
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GHENADY MEIRSON: Russian Repertoire Coach
Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Mr. Meirson graduated from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied piano with Seymour Lipkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski and accompanying with Vladimir Sokoloff. In 1982 he wrote a singer’s handbook entitled Do Sing in Russian and began to specialize in Russian vocal repertoire. He has coached countless artists for opera, oratorio, recitals, and recordings, and helped such organizations as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Singers, and Mendelssohn Club Chorus. In 1996 Mr. Meirson founded PrivateLessons.com, a membership-based network that connects the public with independent music teachers across the United States and Canada. Also a faculty member of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Mr. Meirson joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1990.
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MEI-MEI MENG: Solfège
Ms. Meng studied at the Juilliard School Preparatory Division and at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1969 to 1971 before receiving her B.F.A. from Purchase College (State University of New York), her postgraduate diploma at the Mannes College of Music, and her master’s degree from Queens College (City University of New York). She studied piano with Adele Marcus, Eleanor Sokoloff, Jeanette Haien, and Herbert Stessin, and theory with Carl Schachter and Edward Aldwell. She has been a piano soloist with numerous orchestras and winner of several competitions, has taught at Hunter and Queens colleges, and is a faculty member at the Mannes College of Music. Ms. Meng joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1982.
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EDGAR MEYER: Double Bass
Mr. Meyer began studying bass at age five with his father and continued with Stuart Sankey. He is the winner of numerous awards, including a 2002 MacArthur Award, and is the first bassist to receive the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1994) and the Avery Fisher Prize (2000). Equally renowned as a performer and composer, Mr. Meyer premiered his Concerto for Double Bass, Quintet for Bass and String Quartet, and Double Concerto for Bass and Cello. He made his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut, with Seiji Ozawa conducting, in his Double Concerto with Yo-Yo Ma. He collaborated with Mr. Ma and Mark O’Connor on Appalachia Waltz and Appalachian Journey (Sony Classical, for which he is an exclusive artist) and toured the United States, Europe, and Asia with the trio. Mr. Meyer’s Violin Concerto, written for Hilary Hahn, was premiered and recorded in 1999. He frequently performs and composes for music festivals, including Santa Fe, Aspen, Tanglewood, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, and Marlboro. Mr. Meyer is an artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2003.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Edgar Meyer from Overtones, Spring 2007.
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DONALD MONTANARO: Clarinet, Chamber Music (Woodwinds)
Mr. Montanaro is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. He was a member of the New Orleans Symphony before joining the Philadelphia Orchestra as associate principal clarinet in 1957, a position he held until 2005. Mr. Montanaro has performed at the Marlboro and Casals festivals and toured Europe and the Far East as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles. He is a founder and the music director of the Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble. Mr. Montanaro joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1980.
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JENNIFER MONTONE: Horn
Ms. Montone joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal horn in 2006. She was the principal horn of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2006. Formerly associate principal of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, she was an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University and has been a faculty performer at the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2005. She has performed concertos with the Saint Louis, Dallas, and National symphony orchestras and Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, among others, and has performed chamber music with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as well as at festivals in La Jolla, Santa Fe, Marlboro, and Spoleto, Italy. Ms. Montone’s numerous honors and awards include a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant (2006), Paxman Young Horn Player of the Year in London (1996), and Presidential Scholar for musical achievement (1995). She is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Julie Landsman. A native of northern Virginia, she was a student of Edwin Thayer in the National Symphony Orchestra Youth Fellowship Program and a fellow in the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. Ms. Montone joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Jennifer Montone from Overtones, Spring 2009.
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RICARDO MORALES: Chamber Music (Woodwinds)
Ricardo Morales was appointed principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra by Wolfgang Sawallisch in 2002 and joined the orchestra in 2003. Prior to that, he was principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, a position he assumed at the age of twenty-one under the direction of James Levine, and principal clarinet of the Florida Symphony. A native of San Juan, P.R., Mr. Morales began his studies at the Escuela Libre de Música, along with his five siblings, all of whom are now distinguished musicians. He continued his studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory and Indiana University, where he received his Artist Diploma. He has been a featured soloist with many orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, and Cincinnati Symphony. An active chamber musician, Mr. Morales has performed in the MET Chamber Ensemble series at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall with James Levine at the piano, at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Mr. Morales serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School and Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance. He joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008.
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ROLANDO MORALES-MATOS: Percussion
Born and raised in San Juan, P.R., Mr. Morales-Matos began his musical studies at the prestigious performing-arts high school Escuela Libre de Música. He received his B.F.A. in music from Carnegie Mellon University, his M.A. from Duquesne University, and a Certificate of Professional Studies from Temple University. He is a percussionist and assistant conductor with Disney’s Lion King and performs and records regularly in New York City with various Latin jazz groups and chamber orchestras. He has recorded soundtracks for the films Failure to Launch and The Pink Panther and appears playing onscreen in the Disney movie Enchanted. Mr. Morales-Matos is a member of Ron Carter Foursight Jazz Quartet and is an extra percussionist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His career has taken him all over the world, from Spain to New Zealand, where he has held principal timpani and percussion positions with state orchestras. He is the recipient of the 2006 Drum Magazine world beat percussionist-of-the-year award. Mr. Morales-Matos, who also teaches at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2001.
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ALAN MORRISON: The Haas Charitable Trust Chair in Organ Studies
Organ, Sacred Music Seminar
Mr. Morrison is one of the most sought-after American concert organists, performing in Alice Tully, Jacoby, Verizon, Benaroya, and Spivey halls; Meyerson Symphony Center; Jack Singer Concert Hall; the Crystal Cathedral; National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.; and colleges, cathedrals, and churches throughout North America, Europe, and Brazil. He has been a featured artist for four national conventions of the American Guild of Organists. He has won first prize in both the Mader (Calif.) and Poister (N.Y.) National Organ Competitions, as well as the silver medal at the 1994 Calgary International Organ Festival. Mr. Morrison’s numerous recordings are regularly featured on radio stations worldwide, and his television appearances include two episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as both organist and pianist. A graduate of Curtis (organ and piano accompanying) and Juilliard (organ), he is college organist at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. Mr. Morrison, who also teaches at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2002.
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OTTO-WERNER MUELLER: The Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser Chair in Conducting Studies
Head of Conducting Department
At age nineteen, Mr. Mueller was appointed director of the chamber music department for Radio Stuttgart. He conducted opera and operetta for the Heidelberg Theater and founded and conducted an orchestra for families of United States military forces stationed there. After immigrating to Canada in 1951, he worked extensively for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He taught and conducted at the Montreal Conservatory; served as director of the Victoria Symphony and founder and dean of the Victoria School of Music; served as guest professor at the Moscow State Conservatory; and guest conducted the Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Riga symphony orchestras. Mr. Mueller has conducted in every major city in Canada and has had guest appearances with the Scottish National Orchestra; Krakow Philharmonic; and National, Atlanta, Detroit, Saint Louis, and other United States symphony orchestras. Mr. Mueller is conductor emeritus at Juilliard and has taught at the Yale University School of Music and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has trained conductors of major orchestras—including the San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Fort Worth symphonies and the Swedish National Orchestra—and associate or assistant conductors of the Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Minnesota orchestras; Boston and St. Louis symphonies; and Los Angeles and Munich philharmonics. His former Curtis students include Alan Gilbert, music director of the New York Philharmonic; Paavo Järvi, music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; and Benjamin Shwartz, resident conductor of the San Francisco Symphony. Mr. Mueller joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1986.
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SUSAN NOWICKI: Opera and Voice Coach
Ms. Nowicki has performed throughout the United States as a soloist and in collaboration with prominent singers and instrumentalists, and she regularly performs with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In addition she has toured with Community Concerts under the auspices of Columbia Artists Management, Inc. and has served on the music staffs of the Philadelphia Singers, Opera Company of Philadelphia, and Opera Festival of New Jersey. An active member of the Network for New Music ensemble, she has recorded contemporary music for the Albany, Capstone, De Haske, and North-South labels. Ms. Nowicki teaches privately in Philadelphia and in Lawrenceville, N.J., and was a faculty member of the Dorothy Taubman Institute of Piano from 1997 to 2002. She is an instructor and clinician for the Well-Balanced Pianist programs (http://wellbalancedpianist.com). Ms. Nowicki joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1987.
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DANIELLE ORLANDO: Principal Opera Coach
Ms. Orlando collaborated with Luciano Pavarotti as accompanist, judge, and artistic coordinator for all of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competitions. She spent nine seasons working with Gian Carlo Menotti for the Festival dei due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, as the artistic coordinator and coach for the operas, in addition to editing several of his compositions and performing with the festival. Ms. Orlando has served on the music staffs of many opera companies, festivals, and young-artist programs, including the Metropolitan Opera; Washington National Opera (where she collaborated with Plácido Domingo); Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; Michigan Opera Theatre; Opera Company of Philadelphia (artistic administrator); Pittsburgh Opera; Wolf Trap Opera Company; Festival dei Due Mondi in Charleston, S.C.; American Institute of Music Studies in Graz, Austria; European Center for Opera and Vocal Arts in Belgium; Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera; Portland Opera Performing Institute; New Jersey Opera Theater; and Arizona Opera. She is also a guest judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She recently added Oberlin in Italy and the Florence Voice Seminar to her summer engagements and this season will perform in the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland. Ms. Orlando, who is a master vocal coach at the Academy of Vocal Arts, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1986.
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LIONEL PARTY: Harpsichord
Born in Chile, Dr. Party studied piano with Elena Waiss and was a scholarship student at the Musikhochschule in Munich. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to study with Albert Fuller at the Juilliard School, where he earned a doctorate. Winner of the 1972 International Bach Competition in Leipzig, Dr. Party has toured the United States, Canada, Europe, and South America as recitalist and concerto soloist, and he has made numerous recordings and radio/television appearances in the United States and Europe. Harpsichordist of the New York Philharmonic since 1984, Dr. Party performed with Aston Magna from 1975 to 1992 and was harpsichordist and organizer of the baroque music program at the Grand Teton Music Festival between 1977 and 1996. He was a member of the Aulos Ensemble and the Y Chamber Symphony in New York and founded baroque ensemble La Mela di Newton, which gave its world-premiere performance at Curtis in 2007. Dr. Party, who also teaches at the Juilliard School, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1988.
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JOAN PATENAUDE-YARNELL: Voice
Ms. Patenaude-Yarnell has sung with the major opera companies in North America (New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera) and with many leading conductors (Charles Mackerras, Seiji Ozawa, Julius Rudel, Barry Tuckwell). Her roles included Violetta (La traviata); Mimì (La Bohème); Nedda (Pagliacci); Alice (Falstaff); Countess, Susanna, and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro); La voix humaine; and Juliette (Romeo et Juliette). She is heard on Vanguard Records, Musical Heritage Society, and C.B.C. International. Ms. Patenaude-Yarnell is the artistic director of Centro Studi Lirica (Novafeltria, Italy), and she presents a master class on the principles of bel canto annually at conservatories and colleges. As assistant editor of “The Private Studio,” she has been published in the Journal of Singing. Ms. Patenaude-Yarnell’s students perform with the major international opera houses (Metropolitan, Los Angeles, and San Francisco operas; Lyric Opera of Chicago; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Glyndebourne Festival; Opéra National de Paris; Volksoper) and collaborate with today’s major conductors and directors (Riccardo Muti, Charles Mackerras, Jane Glover, Renata Scotto). They are also first-prize winners of Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, and George London, Richard Tucker Music, and Puccini foundation awards. Ms. Patenaude-Yarnell became a member of the voice faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in 1998 and joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1996.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Joan Patenaude-Yarnell from Overtones, Fall 2008.
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ANNIE PETIT: Supplementary Piano
A native of France, Ms. Petit graduated from the Paris Conservatory at age sixteen, where she won first prize in piano and in chamber music. At age seventeen she won the interpretation prize at the International Franz Liszt Competition in Budapest, which led to a solo career throughout Europe. Ms. Petit came to the United States in 1966 to study with Gyorgy Sebok at Indiana University. She was later artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside. She has made many recordings on the Vox and Pantheon International labels and is pianist-in-residence at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. Ms. Petit joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1974.
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CARLA PUPPIN: Art History
Dr. Puppin received her B.A. from Indiana University and her Ph.D. in art history from Bryn Mawr College. Her specialization is nineteenth-century French painting. She has taught at Franklin and Marshall College and Beaver College (now Arcadia University). She is executive director of the Queen Village Neighbors Association. Dr. Puppin joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1991.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Carla Puppin from Overtones, Fall 2003.
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CHAS RADER-SHIEBER
RESIDENT STAGE DIRECTOR
Stage director Chas Rader-Shieber began 2008 with new productions of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar for the Curtis Opera Theatre and Martin y Soler’s Una cosa rara for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In the spring he directed Plácido Domingo in Handel’s Tamerlano for the Washington National Opera. In recent seasons he has staged Handel’s Flavio and Orlando for New York City Opera, Don Giovanni for Santa Fe Opera, Giulio Cesare for the Pittsburgh Opera, and The Cunning Little Vixen for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Houston Grand Opera. He has directed Mozart’s Idomeneo, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflöte, Le nozze di Figaro, and Così fan tutte, and Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Semele, Ariodante, Imeneo, Alcina, Xerxes, and Partenope, as well as works of Cavalli, Purcell, Gluck, and Rossini. Mr. Rader-Shieber’s work has been seen with the opera companies of Vancouver, Minnesota, Santa Fe, Spoleto USA, and Philadelphia, among others. Upcoming are new productions of Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera, Mozart’s Il re pastore for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra for the Curtis Opera Theatre and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, as well as a revival of his acclaimed production of Tamerlano with Plácido Domingo and Bejun Mehta for the Los Angeles Opera. Mr. Rader-Shieber, who has been stage-directing for the Curtis Opera Theatre since 1991, joins the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2009.
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HAROLD HALL ROBINSON: The A. Margaret Bok Chair in Double Bass Studies
Double Bass, Orchestral Repertoire (Double Bass)
Appointed principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra beginning with the 1995–96 season, Mr. Robinson served for ten years as principal bass of the National Symphony Orchestra and eight years as associate principal of the Houston Symphony. Prior to that he was a member of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. A prizewinner of the 1982 Isle of Man Solo Competition, he has performed as a soloist with the Philadelphia, National Symphony, and Houston Symphony orchestras; New York Philharmonic; and American Chamber Orchestra, as well as other ensembles. Mr. Robinson joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1995.
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SCOTT ROBINSON: Percussion
Mr. Robinson graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1991, after also attending Long Island University and the University of Missouri, Kansas City. As a drum-set performer, he has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt and Good Morning America. In addition to touring with Pat Martino, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and the Glenn Miller Band, he has performed with Mark Egan, Chuck Loeb, Charles Mingus, Louis Bellson, Max Roach, Freddie Hubbard, Slide Hampton, and Marcus Roberts, among others. He can be heard on Pat Martino’s Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery (Blue Note Records), which he recorded in 2006 alongside jazz great John Patitucci on bass. He has been published in Modern Drummer magazine and performed on a Grammy-nominated album with Toshiko Akiyoshi. Mr. Robinson performs and records in the Philadelphia/New York area and has served as drum-set performer and extra percussionist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Delaware Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, and on a PBS video special. Mr. Robinson joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2001.
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AARON ROSAND: The Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies
Violin
Mr. Rosand, world-renowned violin virtuoso and pedagogue, carries on the tradition of Leopold Auer and Eugène Ysaÿe, having studied with their disciples Efrem Zimbalist and Leon Sametini. Mr. Rosand, born of a Russian mother and Polish father, gave his recital debut at age nine and his orchestral debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra a year later. He made his New York recital debut in 1948 and his New York Philharmonic debut with Leonard Bernstein in 1960. He has been solo artist with major orchestras and conductors of the world and frequently combines master classes with concert engagements. Mr. Rosand has recorded extensively throughout his career and, to date, has over thirty CDs and DVDs on various recording labels in the United States and Europe. They are available at retailers and through his award-winning website: www.aaronrosand.com. Mr. Rosand joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1981.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Aaron Rosand from Overtones, Fall 2002.
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KEIKO SATO: Keyboard Harmony, Supplementary Piano
Ms. Sato received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1982, studying with Mieczyslaw Horszowski and Gary Graffman. She has both a Master of Music and a Master of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Seymour Lipkin and Claude Frank. She has received various prizes in international and national competitions. Ms. Sato has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras and played recitals in Japan, where she was born, and throughout the United States. From 1985 to 1987, she was instructor of piano at Yale. Ms. Sato joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1987.
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HARVEY SACHS: Music History Seminar, History of Singing, Opera History
Mr. Sachs’s books—of which there are now more than fifty editions in fifteen languages—include the standard biographies of Arturo Toscanini and Arthur Rubinstein, as well as Virtuoso, Music in Fascist Italy, Reflections on Toscanini, and, as coauthor, Plácido Domingo’s My First Forty Years and Sir Georg Solti’s Memoirs. He edited and translated The Letters of Arturo Toscanini, and his new book, The Ninth: Beethoven and the Year 1824, will be published by Random House in 2010. He has written hundreds of articles for the New Yorker, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TLS, and many other publications, as well as for the BBC, PBS, CBC, Arte, RAI, and other networks. He has lectured at universities and cultural institutions worldwide, has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow of the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and holds an honorary doctorate from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Sachs was artistic director of the prestigious Società del Quartetto di Milano (2004–06). He is editor of the online journal of the OREL Foundation, which promotes music suppressed during the Nazi-Fascist period, and his blog, Overflow, appears on ArtsJournal.com. Mr. Sachs joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2009.
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PETER J. SCHOENBACH: Spanish, Music History Seminars
Dr. Schoenbach served as Curtis dean and administrative coordinator under Director Rudolf Serkin from 1973 to 1977. In that capacity he headed the Liberal Arts Department and taught courses in literature. A bassoonist, he studied with his father, former Curtis faculty and Philadelphia Orchestra first bassoon, Sol Schoenbach. Dr. Schoenbach has played with a number of ensembles, including the orchestras of Buffalo, Chautauqua, and Detroit; toured with the English Chamber Orchestra; played in numerous summer festivals, including Tanglewood, Marlboro, and Bowdoin; and performed with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra. He holds degrees from Swarthmore College, and Columbia and Rutgers universities, and he is an expert on the languages, literatures, and musics of the Hispanic world. His bibliography includes articles on Brazilian and Portuguese music, as well as Mexican and Brazilian theater, and reflects residencies in Lisbon, Barcelona, and Rio de Janeiro. He has been a visiting professor in Aix-en-Provence and Tampa. A long-term administrator after Curtis, he served in similar capacities at the New England Conservatory, Boston University, Wayne State University, and his last institution, the State University of New York College at Fredonia, from which he retired as professor of music in 2005. Dr. Schoenbach joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008.
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YUMI NINOMIYA SCOTT: Violin
Ms. Scott is a graduate of the Toho School of Music in her native country of Japan, as well as the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ivan Galamian. She has been a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1984, and was a member of the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and Curtis String Quartet from 1969 to 1982. She has students in many of the major orchestras. Ms. Scott, who is also on the faculty of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1970.
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ERIC SESSLER: Solfège, Counterpoint, Keyboard Harmony, Supplementary Composition
A 1993 Curtis composition graduate, Dr. Sessler received his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. His works have been premiered throughout the United States, including the Organ Concerto, performed by Alan Morrison and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Hayes, in Verizon Hall in 2007. Mr. Sessler has received numerous awards, including a Philadelphia Music Project grant, Charles E. Ives Scholarship, Theodore Presser Music Foundation Award, and Meet the Composer grant. In addition to his work at Curtis, he serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School’s precollege division and has taught at Chestnut Hill College. Vist him online at http://users.starpower.net/esessler/. Dr. Sessler joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1999.
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SHERIDAN SEYFRIED: Keyboard Harmony
Mr. Seyfried, a composer, is a native of Philadelphia. He was educated at the Curtis Institute of Music, where his major mentors included Edward Aldwell, Richard Danielpour, James Grant, Jennifer Higdon, and Ned Rorem. Upon graduating he received Curtis’s Alfredo Casella Award in Composition. Mr. Seyfried’s diverse body of work includes orchestral, chamber, solo, and film music, and he has received performances throughout the world in major venues, including Prague’s Rudolfinum, Vienna’s Radio Symphony Hall, and Salzburg’s Mozarteum. His music has been played by Ida Kavafian, Anne-Marie McDermott, Steve Tenenbom, Peter Wiley, and the Minnesota Orchestra, among others. In 2001 Mr. Seyfried received an ASCAP Award for his string quartet, Pro and Contra, and in 2002 he was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. A 2006 Presser Music Award recipient, he has also been composer-in-residence at the Music From Angel Fire festival in New Mexico and with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. Mr. Seyfried is a pianist and frequently performs his own music, most recently in recital at Washington’s Kennedy Center with violinist Stephanie Jeong. He joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008.
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ULRIKE SHAPIRO: German Diction
Ms. Shapiro, a native of Celle, Germany, has coached numerous productions at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, in addition to serving as assistant stage director on productions there and at Glimmerglass Opera, Seattle Opera, and L’Opera de Monte Carlo. She has taught German Lieder at the Peabody Conservatory, where she received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, as well as a graduate performance diploma in voice. Her teachers include Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Mark Markham, Thomas Grubb, and Webb Wiggins. Ms. Shapiro joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2001.
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JOSEPH SILVERSTEIN: The Aaron Rosand Chair in Violin Studies
Violin
A 1950 Curtis graduate, Mr. Silverstein began his musical studies with his father, Bernard. He continued with Josef Gingold, and, at Curtis, studied with Efrem Zimbalist and Veda Reynolds. He then held positions with the orchestras of Houston, Philadelphia, and Denver before joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1955 as its youngest player. In 1959 he won third prize (silver medal) in the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and in 1960 he won the Naumburg Award. In 1962 he was appointed concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and he became its assistant conductor in 1971. He served as music director of the Utah Symphony for fifteen years and was named its conductor laureate in 1998. A member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mr. Silverstein performs frequently in New York and has appeared as a soloist and conductor with more than one hundred orchestras in the United States, Japan, Israel, and throughout Europe. He has served on the faculties of Yale and Boston universities, New England Conservatory, and Tanglewood Music Center, and he has recorded for such labels as RCA, Deutsche Grammophon, Delos, CBS, Nonesuch, EMI, and Image. Mr. Silverstein joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2000.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Joseph Silverstein from Overtones, Fall 2002.
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NOAM SIVAN: Improvisation for Performers
Combining composition, piano performance, live improvisation, and conducting, Mr. Sivan has appeared throughout North America, Europe, and his native Israel. He has composed over forty operatic, orchestral, vocal, chamber, and solo works. These have been commissioned and performed by Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Choreographic Institute of the New York City Ballet, Mannes Opera, Canandaigua LakeMusic Festival, Talamus Voices with members of the Israel Philharmonic, and many others. His piano concerto repertoire ranges from Mozart—with newly composed cadenzas—to Viktor Ullmann, the Asian premiere of which he performed with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as Mr. Sivan’s own Piano Concerto, which he premiered in the double role of soloist and conductor. Mr. Sivan is one of the young pioneers in the revival of improvisation in classical music; his live piano improvisations have been widely praised by musicians and critics alike. Born in 1978, Mr. Sivan holds degrees from the Jerusalem Academy and Mannes College. A faculty member at Mannes since 2004, where he founded the popular Improvisation Workshop, Mr. Sivan joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2009.
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BARBARA N. SMITH: Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Smith is a licensed and certified psychoanalyst in private practice in Philadelphia. She is the former president of the Philadelphia School of Psychoanalysis, and for many years she served on its board of directors and was a member of the faculty. She is a senior training and supervising analyst there. Dr. Smith is a cofounder of the Clinical Practice Enrichment Series (CPES), which provides continuing education workshops for mental health practitioners. She has been a guest lecturer at local training institutes and presented workshops for CPES and mental health agencies in the tristate area. Dr. Smith joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007. [top]

ELEANOR SOKOLOFF: Piano
Mrs. Sokoloff began her studies with Ruth Edwards at the Cleveland Institute of Music (Ernest Bloch, director) and was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in 1931, studying piano with David Saperton, chamber music with Dr. Louis Bailly, and—along with her late husband, Vladimir—the two-piano repertoire with Vera Brodsky and Harold Triggs. More than seventy-five of Mrs. Sokoloff’s students have been chosen to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mrs. Sokoloff joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1936, and, in recognition of her lengthy tenure, received the Curtis Alumni Award in 2001.
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IGNAT SOLZHENITSYN: Piano
Enjoying an active career as both pianist and conductor, Mr. Solzhenitsyn has won critical acclaim throughout the world for his lyrical and poignant interpretations. In recent seasons, his extensive touring schedule in the United States and Europe has included concerto performances with numerous major orchestras—including those of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Montreal, London, Paris, and St. Petersburg—and collaborations with distinguished conductors such as Blomstedt, Dutoit, Previn, Sawallisch, and Schwarz. Mr. Solzhenitsyn has given many recitals in the United States and in major musical centers of Europe and the Far East. Mr. Solzhenitsyn is music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. A 1994 winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, he has been featured on numerous radio and television specials. Mr. Solzhenitsyn joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2004.
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DAVID SOYER: The Orlando Cole Chair in Cello Studies
Cello
Mr. Soyer, who was born in Philadelphia, studied with Diran Alexanian, Emanuel Feuermann, and Pablo Casals. He has concertized extensively throughout the world and has made numerous recordings both as a soloist and as cellist with the Guarneri String Quartet. He is a faculty member of the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, and he has been the recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Southern Florida and State University of New York at Binghamton. Mr. Soyer joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1968.
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ARNOLD STEINHARDT: Violin
Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Steinhardt began his studies with Karl Moldrem, Peter Meremblum, and Toscha Seidel and made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age fourteen. At the Curtis Institute of Music, he studied with Ivan Galamian and later with Joseph Szigeti. In 1958 Mr. Steinhardt won the Leventritt Award and appeared as soloist with major United States orchestras, such as the Cleveland Orchestra, where he was invited by George Szell to serve as assistant concertmaster (1959 to 1964). When the Guarneri String Quartet was founded in 1964, Mr. Steinhardt became its first violin, a post he held through the group’s retirement in 2009. He continues to play numerous recitals and solo performances with orchestras throughout the world. He has made many recordings as a soloist and as a member of the Guarneri Quartet, about which he has written the widely acclaimed book Indivisible by Four. His latest book, Violin Dreams, appeared in 2006. He teaches at the University of Maryland and will join the faculty of the Colburn School of Music in 2009. Mr. Steinhardt joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1968.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Arnold Steinhardt from Overtones, Spring 2008.
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WILLIAM STOKKING: Orchestral Repertoire (Strings/Cello)
Principal cello of the Philadelphia Orchestra for thirty-two years, Mr. Stokking retired in 2005. He has appeared as soloist with the orchestras in Philadelphia; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Baltimore. He was a student of Gregor Piatigorsky at the Curtis Institute of Music, and of Felix Salmond and Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School. At the outbreak of the Korean War, he enlisted in the Navy and became solo cello with the Navy Band and Orchestra in Washington, D.C. While in Washington, he was in the master’s/doctoral program at Catholic University. In addition to his position at the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Stokking served as principal cello of the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia and was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was also a faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Stokking joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2000.
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DONALD ST. PIERRE: Opera and Voice Coach
Mr. St. Pierre was associated with the Skylight Opera Theatre as music director from 1978 to 1990. He conducted more than fifty productions there, from Monteverdi’s Il coronazione di Poppea to Stephen Oliver’s Mario and the Magician (American premiere). He was keyboard player of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra until 1978. In 1986 he served as chorus master at the Vienna State Opera for Leonard Bernstein’s Quiet Place (recorded by DGG and conducted by the composer). As a recital accompanist, Mr. St. Pierre has appeared at such venues as New York’s Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall and Almeida Theatre, and Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet, as well as at the Tanglewood, Santa Fe Chamber Music, Bowdoin, Bard, and Grand Teton music festivals. He is one of the contributing composers to the AIDS Quilt Songbook, published by Boosey & Hawkes and recorded on the Harmonia Mundi label. Mr. St. Pierre joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1990.
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HUGH SUNG: Collaborative Pianist
Mr. Sung began his piano studies with his mother and later studied with Eleanor Sokoloff and Susan Starr. He made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age eleven and two years later entered the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Jorge Bolet and Seymour Lipkin. He has performed as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. As an ensemble musician, Mr. Sung has collaborated with many distinguished artists and ensembles, including the American String Quartet, the Díaz Trio, Julius Baker, Jeffrey Khaner, and Aaron Rosand, with whom he has toured and recorded on the Vox and Biddulph labels. His work can also be heard on the I Virtuosi, Avie, and CRI labels. He maintains an active website, www.HughSung.com, which focuses on helping classical musicians adopt technology to enhance their art and lifestyle. Mr. Sung joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1993 as a staff pianist; in 1996, he was named director of instrumental accompaniment; in 1998, director of student recitals; and, in 2009, collaborative pianist.
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STEVEN TENENBOM: Chamber Music (Strings), Coordinator
Mr. Tenenbom is the violist with the Orion String Quartet and OPUS ONE, and he has appeared as a guest artist with the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson and Beaux Arts trios, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and on the 92nd Street Y Chamber Series. He has been a soloist with the Utah Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and Brandenburg Ensemble on tour through the United States and Japan. He has toured and recorded with Tashi, the Galimir String Quartet, and Musicians from Marlboro, in addition to working with composer Lukas Foss and jazz artists Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis. He graduated from Curtis in 1979, having studied with Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle. Mr. Tenenbom, who also serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, and Bard College Conservatory of Music, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1996.
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MICHAEL TREE: Viola
Mr. Tree received his first violin instruction from his father. He later studied with Efrem Zimbalist, Lea Luboshutz, and Veda Reynolds at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 1954 Mr. Tree made his Carnegie Hall debut and has since appeared as both violinist and violist with many major orchestras. He has also participated in leading festivals, including Casals, Spoleto, Marlboro, Israel, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, and Aspen. As a founding member of the Guarneri String Quartet, Mr. Tree has performed on virtually every concert series throughout the world and has been awarded the New York City Seal of Recognition. He has recorded more than eighty chamber music works for the Columbia, RCA, Philips, Arabesque, Nonesuch, and Vanguard labels. In addition Mr. Tree is a member of the string trio Divertimento and, as violinist, of the Fleisher, Jolley, TreeO. He is on the faculties of the University of Maryland, Manhattan School of Music, Juilliard School, and Bard College Conservatory of Music. Mr. Tree joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1968.
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Read Meet the Faculty profile on Michael Tree from Overtones, Spring 2008.
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ROBERT VAN SICE: Percussion
Robert van Sice is considered one of the world’s foremost performers of contemporary music for marimba. In an effort to establish the instrument as a serious artistic vehicle, he has premiered over one hundred works throughout the world. In 1989 Mr. van Sice gave the first solo marimba recital at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and has since appeared in many of world’s major concert halls in London, Paris, Vienna, Madrid, Milan, Stockholm, Oslo, Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, Toronto, Mexico City, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles; many of these performances have been broadcasted by the BBC, Radio Sweden, Norwegian Radio, WDR Radio, and Radio France. He frequently appears as a soloist with Europe’s leading contemporary music ensembles, including the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Contrechamps, and L’Itinéraire. From 1988 to 1997, he headed Europe’s first diploma program for solo marimba at the Rotterdams Conservatorium, and he returned to the United States to take up appointments at the Yale School of Music and the Peabody Institute in 1997. He has given over four hundred master classes in twenty-five countries, and his students have won prizes the world over in both chamber music and solo competitions. Mr. van Sice joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008.
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TIZIANA VIEIRA: Staff Pianist
Originally from Italy, Ms. Vieira studied piano in Caracas, Venezuela, with Russian professor Igor Lavrov. She has traveled around the world: to Spain for the Reina Sofía Summer Festival, where she gave several recitals; to Siena, Italy, where she studied with Michele Campanella; to Sofia, Bulgaria, where she participated in Stefan Popov's Violoncellists Festival; and to Vancouver, Canada, accompanying the Youth Schola Cantorum at a world choir competition. While working on her master's degree in opera coaching at Temple University, she studied with Lambert Orkis, John Douglas, and Alexander Fiorillo. In 2003 she was chosen as the intern pianist for the Lake George Opera Festival, and since then she has worked for Temple University, Opera Columbus, and, as head of the coaching staff, the Atlantic Coast Opera Festival. Ms. Vieira performs with many opera companies in the Philadelphia area, including Amici Opera, Center City Opera Theater, and the New Jersey Opera Festival. She is a coach and accompanist for the Academy of Vocal Arts. Ms. Vieira joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2009.
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BONNIE WAGNER: Vocal Studies Pianist
Ms. Wagner enjoys a career as a freelance coach and accompanist in Philadelphia. She is the pianist for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Sound All Around program, rehearsal accompanist for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and, beginning June 2009, on staff at the Chautauqua Institution. She holds affiliations with West Chester University and the Settlement Music School, where she has performed and taught. A native of San Francisco, Ms. Wagner has performed as a chamber musician on the Eastman in Geneva series, Brevard College Chamber Music Series, Hill and Hollow Chamber Music Festival, and at the University of North Carolina. In the summer of 2005, she produced Center City Chamber Recitals, a small series in Philadelphia. Ms. Wagner has spent two summers at the Tanglewood Music Center under the direction of James Levine. She studied with Martin E. Katz at the University of Michigan and privately with Helmut Deutsch in Munich, Germany. Ms. Wagner joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2006.
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ELIZABETH WALKER: Head Librarian
Ms. Walker received her B.A. from Hood College, her M.F.A. from Pennsylvania State University, and her M.L.S. from the University of Pittsburgh. From 1974 to 1976, she served on the music department staff of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. As a contralto, she was on the voice faculty of Seton Hill College and Chatham College in 1976 and 1977. Ms. Walker was a member of the Philadelphia Singers from 1979 to 2002 and sang Gilbert and Sullivan’s alto character roles for fifteen seasons with Philadelphia’s Savoy Company. She was awarded the best-female-performer prize in 1994 and best-character-actress in 1995 and 1996 by the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England. Ms. Walker joined the staff of the Curtis Institute of Music as assistant librarian in 1977 and has been head librarian since 1980.
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ARIEL WEISS: Alexander Technique
Ariel Weiss has maintained a private practice teaching Alexander Technique in Philadelphia since being certified by the Alexander Foundation in 1988. She is a teaching member of Alexander Technique International and earned her Master of Arts in movement and dance from Wesleyan University. Ms. Weiss has been a member of the faculty at the University of the Arts since 2008, and she is a guest teacher for teacher-training programs in Philadelphia and Toronto. She has also taught workshops for Lehigh University, the Well-Balanced Pianist, and Settlement Music School. She brings over forty years of movement and dance training to her practice, drawing on experience as a dancer and choreographer and training in modern and ballet techniques, improvisation, Barteneiff Fundamentals, Ideokinesis, t'ai chi, and Pilates. Ms. Weiss is a member of Hidden Arena Dance Company, based in New York. She joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1998.
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ERIC WEN: Harmony, Counterpoint, Form and Analysis
Mr. Wen began his musical training as a violinist before attending Columbia and Yale universities. He studied music theory and analysis with Carl Schachter, and was awarded a research fellowship at Cambridge University in England in 1986. Before returning to the United States, Mr. Wen lived in London, where he served as editor of the Strad and the Musical Times, as well as director and executive producer at Biddulph Recordings. Mr. Wen specializes in the analysis of tonal music, and has published numerous articles in the field of Schenkerian analysis. He has also edited a number of violin publications, and serves as principal editor of violin music for Carl Fischer Music Publishers. In addition to his academic career, Mr. Wen is an independent record producer, working with such artists as Aaron Rosand, Gil Shaham, Oscar Shumsky, Arnold Steinhardt, Maxim Vengerov, as well as the Guarneri and Tokyo Quartets. Mr. Wen joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1999.
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PETER WILEY: Cello
Mr. Wiley, a 1974 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, performs as a soloist and recitalist; is a founding member of OPUS ONE, with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott and Curtis faculty members Ida Kavafian and Steven Tenenbom; and succeeded his teacher, David Soyer, as cellist of the Guarneri String Quartet. With the Beaux Arts Trio from 1987 to 1998, Mr. Wiley has played at leading festivals, including the Marlboro Music Festival, for which he also tours and records. In 1986 he made his concerto debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York String Orchestra conducted by Alexander Schneider. As a recitalist he has appeared at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Mr. Wiley entered the Curtis Institute of Music at age thirteen. At twenty he was named principal cello of the Cincinnati Symphony, after one year with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Mr. Wiley teaches at the University of Maryland and Bard College Conservatory of Music and joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1996.
Read Meet the Faculty profile on Peter Wiley from Overtones, Spring 2008.
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RICHARD WOODHAMS: Oboe, Orchestral Repertoire (Woodwinds)
Mr. Woodhams, principal oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1977, is a 1968 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with John de Lancie. Mr. Woodhams has appeared as a soloist throughout the United States and Asia with the Philadelphia Orchestra, most recently in 2005 with Christoph Eschenbach. In the past decade, he has premiered chamber works by Thea Musgrave, Bernard Rands, Ned Rorem, Ellen Taaffe Zwillich, Adam Wernick, and William Bolcom, and he has collaborated with such artists as Andre Watts, Emanuel Ax, Itzhak Perlman, and the Guarneri, Tokyo, and Shanghai string quartets. Mr. Woodhams gives master classes frequently in the United States and abroad, and his former students occupy positions in orchestras worldwide. From 1969 to 1977, he was principal oboe of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and he has been a member of the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival since 2000. Mr. Woodhams joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1985.
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MARION ZARZECZNA: Supplementary Piano
Ms. Zarzeczna received her Bachelor of Music degree in 1954 from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Mieczyslaw Horszowski. She also studied with Pietro Scarpini, Isabelle Sant’Ambrogio, and Jascha Zayde. Winner of numerous prizes, she has given piano recitals and appeared as a soloist with orchestras in North America and Europe, including the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Seventh Army Orchestra in Germany. She was a member of the New Marlboro Chamber Players, the trio-in-residence at Rider College, and a vocal coach at the Temple University Musical Festival in Ambler, Pa. She has been on the faculty of Westminster Conservatory since 1972. Ms. Zarzeczna joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1962.
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