Al Día visited the Curtis Institute of Music in late January 2018 to speak with president and CEO Roberto Díaz. The Philadelphia-based news outlet focuses on the US Latino experience and told the story of Mr. Díaz’s path to Curtis in video and print.
Curtis Artist Fellow Emily Cooley (Composition ’17) has been working at Graterford Prison for the past year, continuing a collaboration with Songs in the Key of Free that brings composition and songwriting workshops to members of the incarcerated community at the prison. This fall, Emily discussed her project in detail, writing for Overtones to share the inspiration behind her work and the impact it has had on the incarcerated men at Graterford.
Emily also documented her work in video, including recordings of music written by participants. Many of the songs composed by the incercerated men have been performed by local artists, offering the men a creative outlet while also helping to raise awareness around the problem of mass incarceration.
By the early 1940s, Leonard Bernstein’s star was swiftly on the rise. Unfortunately, World War II was also escalating. Like many young men who hadn’t already been drafted, Bernstein faced a moral dilemma: In serving his country, he might derail his career.
At the time, Bernstein had concluded his formal education and was excelling at Tanglewood in the summers. He had just debuted with the Boston Pops, his first appearance with a professional orchestra. Now, he faced the possibility of spending years away from his craft. While the choice was clear–duty over personal interest–young Bernstein understandably grappled with the fear of missing his chance at success. Would he have a career to return to?
Initially, Bernstein sought counsel in his mentor Serge Koussevitzky. He wrote to him, asking about the U.S.O. and if applying for service there might be a way to combine the two paths.
Koussevitzky asked the opinion of his friend and Tanglewood supporter Mary Louise Curtis Bok knowing that students at the Curtis Institute were also facing an uncertain future. Curtis was losing many students to the war effort. Between 1940 and 1943, enrollment had dropped from 210 to just 100 musicians, the lowest in the school’s history. It was Koussevitzky’s hope that Mrs. Bok could somehow help safeguard this promising Curtis alumnus.
Mrs. Bok contacted David Williams, the chairman of the Philadelphia region’s U.S.O., on Bernstein’s behalf. Her reply to Koussevitzky stated that, while it was worth asking the question, it was doubtful that working for the U.S.O. would be considered by the government as a replacement for military enlistment. She concluded her letter with thoughts of Curtis’s current students, stating that while Curtis did not as a rule request military deferments or exemptions for enrolled students, this policy resulted in “frequent heartaches all around this matter.”
As fate would have it, when Bernstein reported for his medical examination the doctor disqualified him from service due to chronic asthma. In the years to come, Bernstein would apply his own methods, musical in nature, to promote social and political justice and to honor his Jewish heritage. His next work, a symphony, was completed in 1942 and was titled after the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah. Bernstein described it as offering consolation to the “crisis of our century...It is the cry of Jeremiah, as he mourns his beloved Jerusalem, ruined, pillaged and dishonored after his desperate efforts to save it.”
A photo of the significantly smaller 1943 graduating class. Three students, Sidney Sharp, Paul Shure, and Thomas Perkins, pose in uniform. All returned from the war.)
—Barbara Benedett, digital archivist, Curtis Archives
For more information on Curtis history, visit the Curtis Archives.
PHILADELPHIA—January 12, 2018—Gilbert Varga, principal conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, January 28 at 3 p.m. in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
“A masterful interpreter” (Baltimore Sun), British conductor Gilbert Varga brings his elegant, electric style to the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, leading a lively and evocative program. Under the baton of Curtis conducting fellow Yue Bao, John Corigliano’s The Mannheim Rocket offers an explosive opening, followed by the blazing colors and shocking storyline of Bartók’s Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin with Mr. Varga on the podium. The concert closes with the lush melodic legends of the Arabian Nights, as told through Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Concertmaster Ania Filochowska performs the poignant violin solos that represent the work’s title character.
Single tickets start at $20 and can be purchased through the Kimmel Center Box Office at (215) 893-1999 or KimmelCenter.org. This concert is supported by the Jack Wolgin Curtis Orchestral Concerts Endowment Fund.
Acclaimed for its “otherworldly ensemble and professional level of sophistication” (New York Times), the Curtis Symphony Orchestra offers a dynamic showcase of tomorrow’s exceptional young talent. Each year the 100 extraordinary musicians of the orchestra work with internationally renowned conductors, including Osmo Vänskä, Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop, Simon Rattle, Robert Spano, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who also mentors the early-career conductors who hold Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellowships. 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.
Gilbert Varga, principal conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, is one of Europe’s most sought-after conductors. He has conducted many of the world’s major orchestras, including the Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Radio Symphony Berlin; Orchestre de Paris; Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Budapest Festival Orchestra; Munich, Oslo, and Rotterdam philharmonics; Bavarian Radio, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Saint Louis, Sydney, and Toronto symphonies; and Los Angeles and Saint Paul chamber orchestras.
Born in London, Mr. Varga studied violin with his father, Tibor Varga. He studied conducting under Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache, and Charles Bruck. He served as chief conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker and the Philharmonia Hungarica, permanent guest conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and principal guest conductor of the Malmö Symphony. In 1997 he became music director of the Basque National Orchestra, leading them through ten seasons, including tours across the U.K., Germany, Spain, and South America.
Mr. Varga’s discography includes recordings with the ASV, Koch International, and Claves record labels. His latest recording, of cello concertos by Shostakovich and Martinů with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Christian Poltéra (Bis), was released in May 2017.
The Curtis Institute of Music educates and trains exceptionally gifted young musicians to engage a local and global community through the highest level of artistry. One of the most selective schools in the United States, Curtis accepts four percent of applicants each year on average. A tuition-free policy ensures that talent and artistic promise are the only considerations for admission. With a small student body of about 175, Curtis provides each young musician with an education of unparalleled quality, distinguished by personalized attention from a celebrated faculty and a “learn by doing” philosophy. Curtis students hone their craft through than 200 orchestra, opera, and solo and chamber music offerings each year in Philadelphia and around the world.
Sunday, January 28 at 3 p.m.
Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia
Gilbert Varga, conductor
Yue Bao, conducting fellow
CORIGLIANO The Mannheim Rocket
BARTÓK Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade
Single tickets: $20-75 sold by the Kimmel Center Box Office at KimmelCenter.org, or (215) 893-1999.
The guest conductor for this Curtis Symphony Orchestra performance is made possible by the Gustave and Rita Hauser Chair.
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When one thinks of Leonard Bernstein, the image that generally arises is one of the conductor standing before an orchestra, dressed in his concert best, baton raised in anticipation of that first, crucial note. He stood thus before the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in 1984 and was scheduled to do so again in 1990, before the illness that would take his life a mere nine months later forced him to cancel. Following Bernstein’s death, his children gifted to Curtis a set of their father’s concert whites and a baton—objects that not only epitomized the image of Bernstein as “maestro,” but also represented his long-standing relationship with Curtis.
How can a simple vest, bow tie, and baton represent so much? Certainly on the surface they are important simply for what they are – possessions of a successful alum donated to his music school – but there exist additional levels of contextual significance. In the broadest sense the items simply signify music, Curtis’s raison d’etre and the focus of Bernstein’s life. On a more personal level, the concert whites and baton can be seen as a reaffirmation of Bernstein’s connection to Curtis, representing both his main course of study and what he is most famous for – conducting.
However, there also exists a somewhat more poignant connection. These concert whites and baton serve as a reminder of two notable Bernstein concerts at Curtis. The first a triumphant appearance leading the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in a concert capping off the weeklong celebration of the school’s 60th anniversary, and the second never performed. Scheduled for February 1990, Bernstein was forced to cancel the planned CSO concert due to ill health and, nine months later, he passed away at the age of 72.
This bittersweet association, rather than being a detraction, actually enhances the significance of the Bernstein children’s gift. When viewed as a whole, these three simple objects achieve a tremendous amount, representing the man, the maestro, and the lasting relationship between Curtis and one of its greatest alums.
Kristina Wilson / archivist / Curtis Archives
For more information on Curtis history, visit the Curtis Archives.
