Administration

Roberto Díaz, president and CEO
Nina von Maltzahn President's Chair

A violist of international reputation, Roberto Díaz is president and CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music, following in the footsteps of renowned soloist/directors such as Josef Hofmann, Efrem Zimbalist, and Rudolf Serkin. As a teacher of viola at Curtis and former principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Díaz has already had a significant impact on American musical life and continues to do so in his dual roles as performer and educator.

Roberto Díaz

As a soloist, Mr. Díaz collaborates with leading conductors of our time on stages around the world. He has also worked directly with important 20th- and 21st-century composers, including Krzysztof Penderecki, whose viola concerto he has performed many times with the composer on the podium and whose double concerto he premiered in the United States; and Edison Denisov, who invited Mr. Díaz to Moscow to work on his viola concerto. Jennifer Higdon, Ricardo Lorenz, and Roberto Sierra have all written concertos for Mr. Díaz.

A frequent recitalist, Mr. Díaz enjoys collaborating with young pianists, bringing a fresh approach to the repertoire and providing invaluable opportunities to artists at the beginning of their careers. In addition to performing with major string quartets and pianists in chamber music series and festivals worldwide, he has toured Europe, Asia, and the Americas as a member of the Díaz Trio with violinist Andrés Cárdenes and cellist Andrés Díaz.

Since founding Curtis on Tour in 2008, Mr. Díaz has taken the hugely successful program to North and South America, Europe, and Asia, performing chamber music side-by-side with Curtis students and other faculty and alumni of the school and spearheading the Curtis Symphony Orchestra's 2017 tour of Europe. His tenure as president of Curtis has also seen the construction of a significant new building which doubled the size of the school's campus; the introduction of a classical guitar department and new conducting and string quartet programs; the launch of Curtis Summerfest, summer courses open to the public; and the debut of an online HD video channel featuring Curtis performances. In the fall of 2013 Curtis became the first classical music conservatory to offer free online classes through Coursera.

Also under Mr. Díaz’s leadership, Curtis has developed lasting collaborations with other music and arts institutions in Philadelphia and throughout the world; and established a dynamic social entrepreneurship curriculum, supported by a prestigious Advancement Grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Designed to develop the entrepreneurial and advocacy skills of young musicians, this curriculum includes the project-based Community Artist Program (CAP) and post-graduate Curtis Community Artist Fellowship Program.

In addition to his decade-long tenure as principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he performed the entire standard viola concerto repertoire and gave a number of Philadelphia Orchestra premieres, Mr. Díaz was principal viola of the National Symphony under Mstislav Rostropovich, a member of the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, and a member of the Minnesota Orchestra under Sir Neville Marriner.

Mr. Díaz's recordings on the Naxos label with pianist Robert Koenig include the complete works for viola and piano by Henri Vieuxtemps and a Grammy-nominated disc of viola transcriptions by William Primrose. Also on Naxos are Brahms sonatas with pianist Jeremy Denk and Jonathan Leshnoff's Double Concerto with violinist Charles Wetherbee and the Iris Chamber Orchestra led by Michael Stern. On the New World Records label is a live recording of Mr. Díaz's performance of Jacob Druckman's Viola Concerto with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra. On the Nimbus label is a recording of the Walton Viola Concerto with the New Haven Symphony and William Boughton. On the Bridge Records label are works for viola and orchestra by Peter Lieberson with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Scott Yoo. He has also recorded for the Artek and Dorian labels with the Díaz Trio.

Mr. Díaz received an honorary doctorate from Bowdoin College and was awarded an honorary membership by the National Board of the American Viola Society. In 2013 he became a member of the prestigious American Philosophical Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin. As a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he was selected by then-music director Christoph Eschenbach to receive the C. Hartman Kuhn Award, given annually to "the member of the Philadelphia Orchestra who has shown ability and enterprise of such character as to enhance the standards and the reputation of the Philadelphia Orchestra."

Mr. Díaz received a bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Burton Fine; and a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where his teacher was his predecessor at the Philadelphia Orchestra, Joseph de Pasquale. He also holds a degree in industrial design. Mr. Díaz plays the ex-Primrose Amati viola.

Board of Trustees

The board of trustees of the Curtis Institute of Music has ultimate oversight and authority over the business and affairs of the school.

Members

Officers

Deborah M. Fretz, chair

Edward A. Montgomery Jr., vice chair

Larry Bomback, treasurer

Cynthia Heininger, secretary

Trustees

Nina Baroness von Maltzahn, honorary chair

H. F. "Gerry" Lenfest^†, chairman emeritus

Frank S. Bayley

Victoria Bok

William R. Brody

Anthony B. Creamer III

Roberto Díaz

Gordon Fowler

Judith D. Freyer

Bruce Jay Gould, M.D.

Marsha Hunter

Andrew Jacobs

Linda E. Johnson

Lisa Liem

Yuen Sung “Y.S.” Liu

David Ludwig

Connie B. McCann

John H. McFadden

Anthony McGill

Frank J. Mechura

John J. Medveckis

Robert H. Mundheim

Roy Neff

C. Richard Neu

Eric Owens

Catherine Radbill, Friends trustee

William H. Roberts

Robert H. Rock

Mark E. Rubenstein

Brett Rubinson

Chiona Schwarz

William R. Stensrud

Jay H. Tolson

Baron Lupo von Maltzahn

Penelope P. Watkins

Betty Whelchel

Jerry Wind

Trustees Emeriti

Peter A. Benoliel

Sheldon M. Bonovitz

Carolyn S. Burger

Joseph M. Field

Alan R. Hirsig

Scott M. Jenkins

Bobby Ellen Kimbel, Ph.D.

James R. "Robin" Ledwith^†

Bong S. Lee, M.D.

Christina Weiss Lurie

David G. Marshall

Betty H. Matarese

John A. Nyheim

Albert E. Piscopo

Robert Pollack

Samuel R. Shipley III

Amanda W. Smoot

† deceased

The Mary Louise Curtis Bok Foundation Board of Directors

The Curtis Institute of Music receives annual operating support from the Mary Louise Curtis Bok Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation formed exclusively for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes, particularly the support of music and musical education. The foundation’s board of directors has determined that Curtis should be the sole recipient of financial support.