Month: November 2019

Alumni Spotlight: Irra Petina

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Russian-American mezzo-soprano and actress Irra Petina (Voice ’35) was born on April 18, 1908 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The daughter of wealthy parents, she and her family were forced to flee  to avoid persecution following the 1917 Bolshevik uprising. They made their way to China where, for twelve years, Petina received her first formal vocal training, largely from fellow Russian emigres.  When she was 21, Petina traveled to Philadelphia to audition for admission to Curtis. She was accepted as a voice student of Harriet van Emden in 1930.

Petina studied at Curtis until 1935, although she spent a year in New York singing for the Metropolitan Opera, where she made her debut as Schwertleite in Wagner’s Die Walküre in December 1933. Following her graduation, Petina’s career took off, with professional appearances as Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto, the Marquise of Berkenfeld in Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, Feodor in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Annina in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and the title role in Bizet’s Carmen.

Her relationship with the Met also continued, with Petina’s portrayal of Marcellina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (totaling 27 Met performances and four radio broadcasts), winning her rave reviews from the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune. Additional credits included 35 Met performances as Berta in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Rosalinde in a 1944 national tour of Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus.

In addition to her operatic roles, Petina was also a fixture on Broadway, appearing in Song of Norway, Magdalena, Hit the Trail, and Anya.  However she is perhaps best known for her appearances in Leonard Bernstein’s Candide (1956) as the Old Lady, a role which garnered her a Tony Award nomination for Distinguished Supporting Musical Actress.

Irra Petina died in 2000 in Austin, Texas at the age of 91.

Kristina Wilson
Archivist

For more information on Curtis history, visit the Curtis Archives.

Curtis Family Concert: “Mother Goose” in Photos

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On November 10, Curtis partnered with Enchantment Theatre Company to present an interactive performance based on Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. The performers also offered opportunities for the audience to learn about musical concepts, while Curtis students helped young attendees get up close to some of the instruments after the performance.

Curtis Opera Theatre Opens 2019–20 Season with The Barber of Seville November 21–24

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PHILADELPHIA—November 13, 2019—The Curtis Opera Theatre presents Rossini’s The Barber of Seville November 21 through 23 at 7:30 p.m. and November 24 at 2:30 p.m. at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. Resident Stage Director Chas Rader-Shieber and conductor Christian Capocaccia lead the new production.

Gioachino Rossini’s comic masterpiece finds new energy through the performers of the Curtis Opera Theatre. The barber of Seville does it all—whether a shave, a scheme, or a secret wedding. Figaro dreams up daring plans to unite the beautiful Rosina with a nobleman in disguise. Their budding romance infuriates the couple’s adversaries, who are no match for the ever-resourceful barber. The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) overflows with farcical twists and sparkling arias. This production is the first mounted under the new leadership of the directors of vocal studies and the Curtis Opera Theatre: Danielle Orlando, who also holds the Hirsig Family Chair in Vocal Studies, and Eric Owens.

Conductor Christian Capocaccia makes his Curtis Opera Theatre debut, leading the cast, members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and harpsichordist Miloš Repický in this fully-staged opera, sung in Italian with English supertitles. Chas Rader-Shieber, who has directed over 30 productions for the Curtis Opera Theatre, returns as stage director. Scenic and costume design is provided by Jacob Climer, with lighting design by Christopher Ostrom. The Curtis Opera Theatre season is sponsored by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation.

Three-production subscriptions to the 2019–20 Curtis Opera Theatre season for $84–180 are available through the Curtis Patron Services Office at (215) 893-7902 or Curtis.edu/Opera. Single tickets for $20–75 are available through the Kimmel Center Box Office at (215) 893-1999 or KimmelCenter.org.

The Curtis Opera Theatre has become known for imaginative productions, bold concepts, and absorbing theatre. Under the artistic direction of Danielle Orlando and Eric Owens, promising young singers work alongside established professional directors and designers, resulting in fresh interpretations of standard repertoire and contemporary works. All of Curtis’s 26 students in vocal studies are cast regularly throughout each season, receiving a rare level of performance in fully staged productions, in recitals at Field Concert Hall, and as soloists with Curtis on Tour and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. Curtis’s educational approach opens professional opportunities for Curtis graduates, who sing with top opera companies across the United States and Europe, including La Scala, Covent Garden, the Vienna Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.

 

 

CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE

Thursday, November 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 24 at 2:30 p.m.

Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
300 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia

Christian Capocaccia, conductor
Chas Rader-Shieber, stage director
Jacob Climer, scenic and costume designer
Christopher Ostrom, lighting designer
Miloš Repický, harpsichord

 

ROSSINI         Il barbiere di Siviglia

 

Cast (in singing order)
This production is double-cast

Fiorello

Count Almaviva
Figaro

Rosina

Bartolo
Basilio
Berta

Chorus

 

 Andrew Moore
Evan Gray
Joseph Tancredi
Ben Schaefer
Charles Buttigieg
Merissa Beddows
Sage DeAgro-Ruopp
Adam Kiss
Thomas Petrushka
Emily Damasco
Olivia Smith
Colin Aikins
Ethan Burck
Martin Luther Clark
Aaron Crouch
Patrick Wilhelm
Andrew Moore
Evan Gray

 

Fully staged production members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, sung in Italian with English supertitles

3-production subscription: $84–180, sold by the Curtis Patron Services Office, Curtis.edu/Opera, or (215) 893-7902.

Single tickets: $20–75, sold by the Kimmel Center Box Office, KimmelCenter.org, or (215) 893-1999.

The Curtis Opera Theatre season is sponsored by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and the Wyncote Foundation.

 

# # #

An Update from Curtis

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November 7, 2019

To the Curtis Community:

I am writing today to update you about additional steps that the Curtis Institute is taking in response to the troubling news stories that appeared in late July regarding allegations of sexual misconduct on our campus during the 1980s.

As you may recall, in August we announced the establishment of a third-party hotline as an important way to reaffirm Curtis’s commitment to creating “a healthy school culture in which our community members feel safe, supported, and heard when they voice concerns” about misconduct.

In conjunction with the establishment of the hotline, Curtis also retained Gina Maisto Smith and Leslie Gomez to undertake a comprehensive review of all reports of such misconduct past and present at Curtis, as well as to examine the Institute’s policies for ensuring the safety and security of its students in the future. This work has been underway since August, and we will make the results of this review public upon completion of the review process. Ms. Smith and Ms. Gomez are nationally-renowned former child abuse and sex crimes prosecutors who founded the nation’s first practice dedicated to institutional responses to sexual and gender-based harassment, violence, and other forms of abuse, discrimination, or harassment, and they have extensive experience working with music conservatories.

We encourage interested community members to contact Ms. Smith or Ms. Gomez directly at gmsmith@cozen.com or (215) 665-5540, or lgomez@cozen.com or (215) 665-5546, respectively.

I also want to share with you a draft of the Institute’s updated Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment and Interpersonal Violence Policy, which sets forth detailed procedures to guide the reporting of prohibited conduct as well as the disciplinary processes that the school will follow in response to such allegations. The revised policy, available here, is extraordinarily detailed, and we encourage you to review it and provide any feedback to Kimberly Gould, Title IX Coordinator and Director of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity.

Please feel free to contact Kimberly or me if you have any other questions about today’s update.

Sincerely,

Roberto Díaz
President and CEO