Month: January 2017

Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Richard Woodhams Join the Curtis Symphony Orchestra February 5 at Verizon Hall

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PHILADELPHIA, PA – January 27, 2017 – Miguel Harth-Bedoya, chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, conducts the Curtis Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, February 5 at 8 p.m. in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center with an additional performance on Saturday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m at Immaculata University. The concerts will feature Philadelphia Orchestra principal oboe and longtime Curtis faculty member Richard Woodhams. 

The concert highlights Curtis’s illustrious history with pieces from two of the school’s most famous graduates: Leonard Bernstein’s exhilarating Overture to Candide is led by conducting fellow Carlos Ágreda and Samuel Barber’s Canzonetta for oboe and strings features soloist and alumnus Richard Woodhams (’68), who also performs Jean Francaix’s L’Horloge de flore. Following the intermission, Maestro Harth-Bedoya (’91) brings the concert to a rousing conclusion with Richard Strauss’s exuberant tone poem Don Juan, following the legendary, passionate rogue whose exploits have inspired generations of artists, and Ravel’s atmospheric, shimmering Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2.

The Philadelphia performance is dedicated to the memory of Otto-Werner Mueller, Curtis’s legendary conducting teacher from 1986 through 2013, who passed away in February 2016. As a tribute, the orchestra opens the concert with Mueller’s arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner, long an iconic fixture in their repertoire. Additional tribute events are arranged throughout the day for Curtis alumni. Details can be found at here.

Single tickets for the Philadelphia performance start at $5 and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center Box Office, Kimmelcenter.org or (215) 893-1999. Tickets and more information for the Immaculata performance can be found at Immaculata.edu/Curtis-Orchestra. These concerts are part of the 2016–17 series of Jack Wolgin Orchestral Concerts. 

A “collective marvel” (Philadelphia Inquirer), the Curtis Symphony Orchestra embodies the sheer joy of music-making. Honing their craft under celebrated conductors, 100 young musicians perform with a fresh exuberance that makes each work new. Recent visiting conductors include Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop, Osmo Vänskä, Simon Rattle, Robert Spano, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Curtis’s mentor conductor for the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellowship Program. This professional training has enabled Curtis alumni to assume prominent positions in America’s leading orchestras, as well as esteemed orchestral, opera, and chamber ensembles around the world.


CURTIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Jack Wolgin Orchestral Concerts

Sunday, February 5 at 8 p.m. 
Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor (’91)
Carlos Ágreda, conducting fellow
Richard Woodhams, oboe (’68)

TRADITIONAL      “The Star-Spangled Banner” arr. Otto-Werner Mueller
BERNSTEIN           Overture to Candide 
BARBER                 Canzonetta 
FRANCAIX             L’Horloge de flore (The Flower Clock) 

—Intermission—

STRAUSS               Don Juan, Op. 20
RAVEL                    Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2

Single tickets: $5–$50 sold by the Kimmel Center Box Office, Kimmelcenter.org or (215) 893-1999.


Additional Performance:
Saturday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Alumnae Hall Theater at Immaculata University, 1145 King Road, Immaculata, Penn.

Tickets and more information at Immaculata.edu/Curtis-Orchestra

Curtis in the News: On MLK Day, volunteers help Philadelphia school rescue its library

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“On Monday morning, some 120 volunteers flooded the school in the Fairhill section of Philadelphia with a shared goal—reviving a library that, in many ways, has not truly served as an actual library for a long time.”

John Kopp reports on Curtis’s Day of Service at William Cramp Elementary School, helping to renovate a library that had been dormant for several years after budget cuts left the school without a librarian.

Read more at Philly Voice.

Curtis Students Perform Day of Service to Benefit William Cramp Elementary School, a City of Philadelphia Designated Community School

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WHEN: Monday, January 16, 2017; performance begins at 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: William Cramp Elementary School, 3449 N. Mascher Street, Philadelphia

WHAT: Students from the Curtis Institute of Music partner with the William Cramp Elementary School community in an effort to reopen the school’s library which has been closed for the past five years. The Curtis musicians will volunteer their time painting, organizing, cleaning, and decorating the school as part of Curtis’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. They will also present a brief, casual fundraising concert with performances by Curtis brass, woodwind, strings, percussion, and opera students; Cramp preschool students learning violin through a Suzuki program established by Curtis ArtistYear Fellow Shannon Lee (Violin ’16); and a Latin dance performance by Centro Nueva Creación. 

The concert takes place in the school’s cafeteria at 3449 N. Mascher Street in Philadelphia. Doors open at 3 p.m. and the concert begins at 3:30 p.m. Light refreshments are provided by Urban Hope Church.

Tickets: $10, available online; proceeds benefit the reopening of the William Cramp Elementary School Library  


More Information: 

Jennifer Kallend, Curtis Institute of Music 
Office: (215) 717-3190 
Cell: (215) 622-6195
jennifer.kallend@curtis.edu 

Deana Gamble, Mayor’s Office of Education 
Cell: (267) 438-7548
deana.gamble@phila.gov

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The Dover Quartet Performs with Special Guest Roberto Díaz January 29

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PHILADELPHIA—January 10, 2017—Curtis Presents opens a new season with a recital by the internationally renowned Dover Quartet on Sunday, January 29 at 3 p.m. in Field Concert Hall. Hailed as “the young American string quartet of the moment” (New Yorker), the Dover Quartet has continually impressed audiences across a global stage with their unique blend of musical maturity, technical prowess, and enlivening chemistry. 

For this homecoming recital, the Dover Quartet presents a program of works by Britten and Mozart; and violist and Curtis president Roberto Díaz (’84) joins the performers for Dvorák’s Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 97. Mr. Díaz holds the Nina von Maltzahn President’s Chair and the James and Betty Matarese Chair in Viola Studies.

The recital takes place in Field Concert Hall at the Curtis Institute of Music, 1726 Locust Street, Philadelphia. Subscriptions for the Curtis Presents four-concert series, which includes Carter Brey (February 26), Elliot Madore (April 9), and Robert van Sice with the Curtis Percussion Ensemble (April 23), are available for $80. Single tickets are $25. To purchase tickets, contact the Curtis Patron Services Office at (215) 893-7902 or Curtis.edu/tickets. The Curtis Presents season is sponsored by Blank Rome LLP.

Since forming at Curtis in 2008, the Dover Quartet has charted a meteoric rise, becoming one of the most exciting and in-demand chamber ensembles of their generation. Having swept the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the group returned to Curtis as its first Nina von Maltzahn quartet in residence, continuing the school’s unparalleled lineage of string quartet playing. They have since toured the globe, performing over 120 concerts annually. 

Highlighting Curtis alumni and faculty in a new recital series, Curtis Presents brings Curtis graduates and faculty members from around the world to Field Concert Hall. Performers are leaders in their field, whose success as musicians in the 21st century continues the impact and legacy of Curtis music-making, achieved over more than eight decades. Proceeds from the concerts directly benefit current Curtis students.

“One of the world’s finest music academies” (BBC Culture), the Curtis Institute of Music pairs tradition and innovation, educating exceptionally gifted young musicians as artist-citizens who engage a local and global community through music-making of the highest caliber. Each year 175 students come to Curtis, drawn by a tuition-free, performance-inspired learning culture. In this intimate environment, they are nurtured by a celebrated faculty and inspired by the school’s distinctive “learn by doing” approach, offering more than 200 concerts each year in Philadelphia as well as performances around the world through Curtis on Tour. 

CURTIS PRESENTS: DOVER QUARTET

Sunday, January 29 at 3 p.m.
Field Concert Hall, 1726 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

 

MOZART    Quartet in F major, K. 590

Dover Quartet

BRITTEN    Quartet No. 2 in C major, Op. 36

Dover Quartet

DVORÁK    Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 97

Dover Quartet
Roberto Díaz, viola

Tickets: 
4-concert subscription: $80 sold by the Curtis Patron Services Office, Curtis.edu/tickets or (215) 893-7902.
Single tickets: $25 sold by the Curtis Patron Services Office, Curtis.edu/tickets or (215) 893-7902.
 
The Curtis Presents season is sponsored by Blank Rome LLP.

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