Month: October 2018

Curtis Symphony Orchestra Celebrates Gary Graffman on October 27 at Immaculata University and October 28 at Verizon Hall

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PHILADELPHIA—October 4, 2018—Giancarlo Guerrero leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and soloist Haochen Zhang in concerts celebrating the 90th birthday of Curtis’s former director and longtime piano faculty member Gary Graffman in Alumnae Hall at Immaculata University on Saturday, October 27 at 3 p.m. and in Verizon Hall at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, October 28 at 3 p.m.

 

Pianist Gary Graffman joined the Curtis family at the tender age of seven, when he was accepted as a student. Throughout a celebrated career as soloist, teacher, and administrator, he has left his mark on music through his own performances and those of his students. In celebration of Mr. Graffman’s 90th birthday, alumnus and recent Van Cliburn winner Haochen Zhang (’12) returns to perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, a romantic powerhouse and staple of the Graffman legacy. The dynamic Giancarlo Guerrero, a Curtis favorite, also conducts Igor Stravinsky’s beloved ballet Petrushka, a house specialty since the days when conductor Leopold Stokowski led the Curtis orchestra. Opening the program is Brio—led by Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow Yue Bao—a 2018 work exuding vitality and virtuosity by this year’s composer in residence, Augusta Read Thomas.

 

Three-concert subscriptions to Verizon Hall starting at $60 and single tickets to Immaculata for $20 are available from the Curtis Patron Services Office at (215) 893-7902 or Curtis.edu/Tickets. Single tickets to Verizon Hall start at $25 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.

 

Giancarlo Guerrero is the music director of the Nashville Symphony and the Wrocław Philharmonic, and principal guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon. A passionate proponent of new music, he has championed the works of several of America’s most respected composers and has presented eight world premieres with the Nashville Symphony, several of which were released as recordings. He developed and guided the creation of Nashville Symphony’s Composer Lab and Workshop initiative, together with composer Aaron Jay Kernis, to further foster and promote new American orchestral music.

 

Mr. Guerrero’s recent guest conducting engagements include the Boston, Detroit, Queensland, and Sydney symphony orchestras; the Cleveland Orchestra; the Brussels Philharmonic; and the Residentie Orchestra in the Hague. He has appeared with many of the prominent North American orchestras, including those of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Montreal, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. In Europe he has appeared with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony; the Brussels, London, and Netherland philharmonics, and the radio philharmonic orchestras of France and Germany. He was principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra Miami from 2011 to 2016, and music director of the Eugene Symphony from 2002 to 2009.

 

Mr. Guerrero made his debut with Houston Grand Opera in 2015 conducting Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. For the Costa Rican Lyric Opera, he has conducted Carmen, La bohème, and Rigoletto. In 2008 he gave the Australian premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at the Adelaide Festival.

 

Since winning the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, Haochen Zhang has captivated audiences with a unique combination of deep musical sensitivity, fearless imagination, and spectacular virtuosity. In 2017 he received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

 

Highlights of Mr. Zhang’s 2017–18 season included his recital debut at Carnegie Hall and performances with the China and Taiwan philharmonics; the California, Guangzhou, and Lahti symphony orchestras; the Shenzhen Concert Hall’s 10th Anniversary Gala; and a Chinese New Year concert with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich. He has also appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra; the Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Los Angeles, and Munich philharmonics; the Kansas City, London, Pacific, San Francisco, Seattle, Singapore, and Sydney symphony orchestras; and the Mariinsky Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, he has participated in the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and La Jolla Summerfest.

 

This season, Mr. Zhang gives recitals in Mexico City, Madrid, and Boston, among other venues; and debuts with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. His latest CD, released by BIS in 2017, includes works by Schumann, Brahms, Janáček, and Liszt. His performances at the Van Cliburn Competition were released by Harmonia Mundi in 2009.

 

Mr. Zhang is a 2012 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Gary Graffman.

 

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.

 

 

CURTIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Enduring Legacies: A 90th-Birthday Tribute to Gary Graffman (’46)

The Jack Wolgin Orchestral Concerts

 

Saturday, October 27 at 3 p.m.

Alumnae Hall, Immaculata University, 1145 King Road, Immaculata, Pa.

 

Sunday, October 28 at 3 p.m.

Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia

 

Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor

Haochen Zhang (’12), piano

Yue Bao, conducting fellow

 

AUGUSTA READ THOMAS     Brio
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
STRAVINSKY  Petrushka (1947)

 

Immaculata

Single tickets: $20, sold by the Curtis Patron Services Office at Curtis.edu/Performances, or (215) 893-7902.

 

Philadelphia

3-concert subscription: $60–204, sold by the Curtis Patron Services Office at Curtis.edu/Performances, or (215) 893-7902.

Single tickets: $25–85, 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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The First Movement: Gary Graffman as a Curtis Student, 1936-1946

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Gary Graffman was born in New York City on October 14, 1928. Exposed to music from an early age (his father was an accomplished violinist who taught in the Graffman home), young Gary demonstrated shades of his precocious talent by age 3. Recognizing this, his father initially tried to teach him the violin but, as the boy was too small to hold the instrument properly, decided on the piano as a stopgap until his son’s arms and hands developed more agility.

As is now well known, Graffman never returned to the violin. As his skill on the piano developed, his father began investigating avenues for furthering his son’s instruction, ultimately looking no further than his own Russian-émigré neighborhood. Isabelle Vengerova, renowned pianist and pedagogue, was a longtime friend of the Graffman family, and it was on her suggestion that Gary came to Philadelphia to audition for a spot at the Curtis Institute of Music on 17 April 1936.

Isabelle Vengerova not only taught at Curtis, she was among its founding faculty, along with Josef Hofmann and Leopold Stokowski.  Having toured extensively as a soloist and taught at the Imperial Conservatory of St. Petersburg, Vengerova brought with her an impressive pedigree as both performer and teacher. She and Hofmann exercised complete control over the piano department at Curtis, and many of her students lived in abject fear of her. Gary himself, having known Vengerova his whole life, experienced no such intimidation, although he did understand the effect she had on others; in later years he fittingly recalled her as “a battleship, but a rather motherly one.”

Because of the relationship between the Graffmans and Vengerova, it would be easy to surmise that it was this rather than merit that garnered Gary his place at Curtis. However, prior to his audition Vengerova was quick to make clear that his acceptance was not her decision alone. She would be but one member of a jury (that also included Josef Hofmann), and the results would depend not only on how well Gary played, but whether there was open spot in the department that year.  Fortunately, he succeeded in his audition (in his notes Hofmann called him “an amusing, musical child”), a place was available, and thus he was duly accepted to Curtis at the age of 7 on September 28, 1936.

Because Gary was so young, however, he did not relocate to Philadelphia. He remained in New York with his family and walked to his weekly lessons with Vengerova in her 93rd Street apartment on the Upper West Side. Although she taught at Curtis a couple of days a week, New York was still her primary residence, so this arrangement worked well for both teacher and student. Gary stayed with Vengerova throughout his ten years at Curtis. During that time, though their personalities, temperaments, and methods sometimes clashed, she was an integral part of his training, and they remained close friends and colleagues until her death in February 1956.

Although he was based in New York for the duration of his time at Curtis, Gary would frequently travel to Philadelphia for student recitals. Of these performances he recalled: “Think of a situation in which a nine- or ten-year-old walks onstage… and sees in the audience, besides his teacher and fellow students, the likes of Josef Hofmann, Fritz Reiner, Gregor Piatigorsky, William Primrose, Rudolf Serkin, Efrem Zimbalist, and Marcel Tabuteau. But such were the listeners… at those concerts in Casimir Hall.”  However, while his experiences on stage were essential to Gary’s development as a soloist, these trips to Curtis were important for another reason beyond practice and performance. They provided the opportunity for him to fraternize and catch up with students and teachers alike, helping to foster a sense of belonging for a student whose Curtis experience was both socially and geographically removed than that of his Philadelphia peers.

On May 11, 1946, Gary Graffman graduated from the Curtis Institute, under the auspices of which he had spent the majority of his young life. Although still only 17, he was on the verge of embarking on a long and successful career as a classical pianist—an avenue that, given his training, seemed clear. What likely seemed less clear was that that same avenue of success would, some 30 years later, lead Graffman right back to Curtis to expand, deepen, and strengthen the bond with the school that had given him so much.

 

Kristina Wilson / archivist / Curtis Archives
For more information on Curtis history, visit the Curtis Archives.

Meet the New Students: Martin Luther Clark

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Martin Luther Clark, a tenor from Marshall, Texas, entered Curtis’s opera program this fall after earning a bachelor’s degree and graduate artist certificate at the University of North Texas. He’s also sung roles with Central City Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and appeared as a soloist with the Kansas City Symphony. Martin is jumping right into roles with the Curtis Opera Theatre, singing in both fall productions: He’s the First Sailor in Dido and Aeneas (October 4–7) and Tobias in Sweeney Todd (November 14–16). Here he shares his excitement about the year ahead.

How did you hear about Curtis?
A mentor of mine mentioned he graduated from Curtis and he had a very successful career, but I never researched Curtis until an agent and a vocal coach strongly recommended I apply. I’m so glad I actually listened because this place is nothing short of amazing! One of the most interesting things I’ve noticed is the musical maturity in the students here. I’ve not heard every student perform but from what I have heard performed live or practiced through the walls is that each student has a romantic passion for their music. Their gift of music just freely flows and I believe it simply comes from the “learn-by-doing” way of teaching.

What has been your most important musical experience until now?
Studying with my opera director and taking organ lessons, both at the University of North Texas. Working with my opera director really taught me mental discipline when it came to studying text in different languages. When I reached graduate school, I decided to take secondary organ lessons. This helped me define my method of learning and understanding music, which is different from learning and understanding text. It was a revolutionary moment that gave me a huge sense of confidence in my musicianship skills.

What makes you excited about the year ahead?
I’m looking so much forward to the growth I’m going to have as both a person and a professional musician. Judging by just the few coachings I’ve had with the opera staff, I have a lot to be excited about for the future in terms of vocal and professional development.

Any initial thoughts about the experience of preparing an opera at Curtis?
The amount of heart that goes into the process of putting on a production by everyone has been life-giving. The coaches and production staff have all been incredibly helpful and so easy to work with. So far being at Curtis has sparked new motivation within me and I can’t wait for the rest of the year!