Curtis on Tour in Nantucket, MA

Recognized as one of the most celebrated violinists of her generation, Elissa Lee Koljonen has thrilled audiences and critics in over one hundred cities throughout the world. Ms. Koljonen initially received international acclaim when she became the first recipient of the prestigious Henryk Szeryng Foundation Award and silver medalist of the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. Her playing has been hailed by the Helsingin Sanomat (Helsinki) as “sparkling, sensual and personal.” Dan Tucker of the Chicago Tribune has written that “she displayed boundless technique and musicianship.”

Ms. Koljonen’s engagements have included a return to the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform the Shostakovich Violin Concerto #1, her debut in Spain with James Judd and the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, performances with José-Luis Novo and the orchestras in Annapolis and Binghamton, the Delaware Symphony, Reading Symphony, the Kimmel Center’s Summer Solstice and the Philadelphia premiere of Behzad Ranjbaran’s Violin Concerto with JoAnn Falletta. She has also made appearances with the Boston Pops, Minnesota Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic and the symphonies of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Helsinki and Seoul. Ms. Koljonen has collaborated with such noted conductors as Mattias Bamert, James DePriest, Lawrence Foster, Richard Hickox, Neeme Järvi, Louis Lane, Andrew Litton, Eiji Oue and the late Bryden Thompson.

She has performed in some of the world’s most important venues, including the Musikverein in Vienna, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Barbican Centre in London, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Seoul Arts Center, the Symphony Hall in Boston, and the Academy of Music and Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. Also an avid chamber musician, Ms. Koljonen appears regularly at festivals throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She garnered critical acclaim for her debut at the Queen Elisabeth Hall in London and her appearances with the London Mozart Players and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo in a special concert celebrating the 700th anniversary of the Grimaldi Dynasty.

Ms. Koljonen is a protégée of the great Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music. Incorporating his influence, she carries on the legacy and tradition of Leopold Auer and his legendary school of violin playing.

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.

As a soloist, Mr. Díaz collaborates with leading conductors of our time on stages throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia.  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—as well as Edison Denisov, Jennifer Higdon, Ricardo Lorenz, and Roberto Sierra. His recording of Jennifer Higdon’s Viola Concerto won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2018.

As 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 beginnings of their careers. In addition to performing with major string quartets and pianists in chamber music series and festivals worldwide, Mr. Díaz has toured Europe, Asia, and the Americas as a member of the Díaz Trio with violinist Andrés Cárdenes and cellist Andrés Díaz. The Díaz Trio has recorded for the Artek and Dorian labels.

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. Mr. Díaz’s live performance of Jacob Druckman’s Viola Concerto with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra is available on New World Records. He has also recorded the Walton Viola Concerto with William Boughton and the New Haven Symphony for Nimbus Records, and works for viola and orchestra by Peter Lieberson with Scott Yoo and the Odense Symphony Orchestra and for Bridge Records.

Since founding Curtis on Tour in 2007, Mr. Díaz has taken this successful initiative 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. 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; and the launch of Curtis Summerfest, summer courses open to the public. 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 the post-graduate Community Artist Fellowship program, which gives recent Curtis graduates the opportunity to dedicate a year of arts-based service to the community.

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.” He 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. Mr. Díaz also holds a degree in industrial design.

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. He plays the ex-Primrose Amati viola.

Pianist Hanchien Lee has established herself as a successful soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Since her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age sixteen, she has performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia, appearing at venues such as Steinway Hall in New York, Academy of Music, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, and has given recitals at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Muhlenberg College Piano Series, Hillman Performing Arts Center, Texas International Piano Festival, Basilica San Pietro in Italy, Centro Cultural del Antiguo in Spain and Taipei Convention Center in Taiwan. She has appeared as soloist with the American Elite youth orchestra, Plainfield Symphony, Taiwan National Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Perugia and Poland’s Capella Cracovienses Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. Lee is the recipient of the prestigious Chi-Mei Scholarship and Clara Ascherfeld Award. She has won first prize at the Russel C. Wonderlic Piano Competition and top prizes at Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition and Yamaha Piano Competition. As a chamber musician, she has performed in many highly respected music festivals including Sarasota, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Prussia Cove International Music Seminar and Music Academy of the West. She is also a member of the prize-winning quartet that was winner of the Yale School of Music Chamber Music Competition and performed at Stony Brook University, Muhlenberg College and Montana University, where she also conducted a master class.

Ms. Lee was accepted at the Curtis Institute of Music at age eleven where she studied with Claude Frank and Eleanor Sokoloff. Following graduation from Curtis, Ms. Lee continued her studies at Yale University with Claude Frank, earning both a Master’s degree and an Artists’ Diploma. She holds a doctoral degree at the Peabody Conservatory of John Hopkins University where she was under the tutelage of with Boris Slutsky. Ms. Lee has also studied with such esteemed pianists as Gary Graffman, Richard Goode, Meng-Chieh Liu, Jerome Lowenthal and Fou T’song. She currently serves as a piano faculty at the Peabody Preparatory of the Johns Hopkins University.