Month: March 2020

The Curtis Institute of Music Launches New Weekday Video Series, Continues Friday-Night Broadcasts

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PHILADELPHIA—March 31, 2020—The Curtis Institute of Music announces a new video series, adding to its extensive YouTube video library. Curated around a weekly theme, the “Curtis Is Here” initiative features a video of a favorite or rarely seen Curtis performance, posted each weekday at noon EDT, beginning Monday, March 30. Curtis’s popular live-streamed recitals will be replaced with broadcasts of full-length concerts on Fridays at 8 p.m. EDT until further notice. This expanded video content is available at Curtis.edu/YouTube.

“Curtis Is Here” and the Friday-night broadcasts will make even more performance content available to the public via Curtis’s YouTube channel, which currently features over 150 videos of students, alumni, and faculty presenting individual works, full-length recitals, in-depth lectures, and more. The conservatory, which presents over 200 public performances in a typical year, is committed to providing high-quality musical content to audiences around the world. Due to recent restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19, in-person performances at Curtis have been halted for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester, increasing the importance of online content accessible to those at home.

New “Curtis Is Here” performance videos will be released on YouTube Mondays through Fridays at noon EDT and will be accompanied by welcoming commentary from members of the Curtis community. “Curtis Is Here” launches Monday, March 30 with the week-long theme “Indivisible by Four,” which focuses on selections for string quartet. The weekday releases feature four performances by Curtis’s past and current resident string quartets—and one special collaboration between the world-renowned Dover Quartet and violist Roberto Díaz, Curtis’s president. Future themes include Curtis on Tour performances and works by Curtis composers, among others.

Broadcasts of full-length recitals and concerts will take place on Friday nights at 8 p.m. EDT via YouTube (Curtis.edu/YouTube) and Facebook Live (Facebook.com/CurtisInstitute). These broadcasts temporarily replace Curtis’s live-streamed recitals. Content will include favorite performances from recent seasons of the Student Recital Series, Ensemble 20/21, and more. The next broadcast, on Friday, April 3 at 8 p.m. EDT, features a vocal department recital of works by Russian composers, which was originally recorded in January 2020. More information on subsequent broadcasts will be regularly updated at Curtis.edu/Calendar.

In the 2019–20 school year, the Curtis Institute of Music celebrates 95 years of educating and training exceptionally gifted young musicians to engage a local and global community through the highest level of artistry. With a small student body of about 175, Curtis provides each young musician with an unparalleled education alongside musical peers, distinguished by personalized attention from celebrated faculty and a “learn by doing” philosophy. To ensure that admissions are based solely on artistic promise, Curtis makes an investment in each admitted student so that no tuition is charged for their studies. Curtis students hone their craft through more than 200 orchestra, opera, and solo and chamber music offerings each year in Philadelphia and around the world. Learn more at Curtis.edu.

 

 

 

CURTIS INSTITUTE OF MUSIC ON YOUTUBE


CURTIS IS HERE
Online at Curtis.edu/YouTube
New releases available Monday through Friday at 12 p.m. EDT

March 30–April 3
Indivisible by Four

Monday, March 30
DVORÁK		 Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 77, No. 2
Dover Quartet
Robert Díaz, viola
Tuesday, March 31
SHAW		 Blueprint
Aizuri Quartet
Wednesday, April 1
HAYDN		 Quartet in G major, Op. 76, No. 1
Vera Quartet
Thursday, April 2
DAI		 Lo-Re-Lei
Zorá Quartet
Friday, April 3
GLASS		 Quartet No. 5
Zorá Quartet

 

FRIDAY BROADCASTS
Online at Curtis.edu/YouTube and Facebook.com/CurtisInstitute
Fridays at 8 p.m. EDT

Friday, April 3 at 8 p.m.
Broadcast: Vocal Department Presents Russian Works with Ghenady Meirson, piano

 

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Richard Lin Selected for Residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

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Richard Lin (Violin ’13) has been selected as a Bowers Program artist by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He will participate in a three-year program, featuring unparalleled professional opportunities – including New York concert seasons, national and international residencies and tour appearances, educational activities, recordings and international broadcasts.
Read more at The Violin Channel HERE.

Curtis students, alumni, and faculty, are making remarkable accomplishments in the music world and beyond. Learn more about Curtis in the News.

Curtis Operations Updates on COVID-19

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Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Dear friends of Curtis,

The Curtis community joins me in sending heartfelt wishes that each of you and your families are safe and healthy during these unprecedented times.

Just weeks ago, none of us could have imagined that our semester and lives would unfold in this way. At Curtis we continue to prioritize the safety of our community, as well as the education and well-being of our students. And we are, of course, committed to keeping the music going—if only virtually.

As the global pandemic continues to bring uncertainty to our daily lives, I wanted to update you on the status of the Curtis Institute’s operations and how our students, faculty, and staff are faring.

While Curtis had already decided to suspend classes and performances indefinitely, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf declared last Thursday that all non-life-sustaining businesses must close their physical locations, with enforcement actions beginning Saturday, March 21. I am heartened to say that, with a great deal of camaraderie, Curtis staff began working remotely on Monday, March 16 and is in complete compliance with the governor’s declaration.

Fortunately, we are able to continue educating our students, even if we cannot present public performances. As you might remember, we extended spring break by a week, giving the staff time to prepare for a shift to distance education. Our technological capacity has made it possible to provide our faculty with the tools and support to teach lessons and conduct group classes online, beginning this week.

Before I provide responses, below, to Frequently Asked Questions about the status of Curtis and its community, I wanted to take this moment to again send you my very best wishes for the health and well-being of you and your families. Please take care of yourselves, and each other.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Where are the students and how are they doing?

Curtis has been working diligently to make it possible for all students to return home. The school is also supporting those Lenfest Hall residents who can’t travel due to restrictions or safety concerns by placing them in Curtis-subsidized, off-campus housing. We will continue to monitor the U.S. Department of State’s March 19 Level 4 Health Advisory warning all U.S. citizens to avoid international travel and its potential effect on our students.

How will lessons and classes be taught?

Performance faculty are continuing to teach private lessons via various video-conferencing platforms. Curtis is making individual Zoom accounts available for each teacher through the school’s institutional membership. There will be NO in-person teaching for the foreseeable future, but the video conferencing option works very well for real-time interaction. Some of our faculty are even continuing studio performance classes, with all of their students logging in, simultaneously, from their various locations.

Most academic courses will continue using various online formats, particularly Canvas —a learning management system. This is a new system to Curtis which we were just rolling out this semester; however, the faculty has been incredibly flexible and willing to jump right in. The U.S. Department of Education has shared that their primary expectation (and, therefore, ours) is regular and substantive communication between teachers and students. All students can expect regular feedback and guidance from faculty regarding course projects, essays, and exams.

What is the status of upcoming live performances?

While we had already anticipated the possibility that we might not be able to present live performances in the time ahead, Governor Wolf’s recent declaration makes it necessary for us to cancel all remaining public performances for the semester. This is a very disappointing circumstance given that live performance is central to the school’s mission.

We have already contacted visiting artists for the 20/21 Ensemble concert (April 4), Curtis Presents recital (April 11), Curtis Symphony Orchestra concert (April 25 and 26), and the Curtis Opera Theatre’s production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito (April 30– May 3). Following this message today, members of the advancement team will be reaching out to ticket holders with instructions on how to exchange them for future performances or donate the value of the tickets to the school. Any questions you have about your tickets should be sent to tickets@curtis.edu.

What is the status of the May 14, 2020 Legacy of Strings gala?

Governor Wolf’s declaration will make it necessary to cancel or postpone the gala. We are extremely grateful for the pre-sale response to the gala. In the time ahead, Curtis will be reaching out with further information to the generous donors who have already made commitments to the gala. In the meantime, if you have any specific questions about the gala, please write to Derrick T. Smith, senior director of development, at derrick.smith@curtis.edu.

What is the status of Summerfest?

On Friday we informed our Chamber Music for Adults participants that the program—scheduled to take place from May 19–23—has been cancelled for this year. This decision to cancel was not made lightly, as this cherished program is important to our community. We continue to review the viability of holding our June and July Summerfest programs as scheduled.

Are there other ways to enjoy Curtis during this period?

Although we are not able to present live performances at this time, we hope you will visit our YouTube channel (Curtis.edu/YouTube), where we will be sharing recordings from our extensive archive, from highlights to full concerts.

 

I know that many of you have been concerned for our students and for Curtis during these uncertain times. I hope this update alleviates some of your concerns and assures you that we are working hard to ensure that our entire Curtis family continues to thrive physically and musically. Look for additional updates from Curtis from time to time and please reach out to us at advancement@curtis.edu if you have any questions.

Thank you for everything you do for Curtis. We look forward to celebrating music with you in person once again as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Roberto Díaz
President and CEO

Spotlight on Rosalyn Tureck

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Best known as an expert on Bach, keyboardist and musicologist Rosalyn Tureck’s career spanned many facets of classical music, from historical performance practice to the development of electronic instruments and the contemporary music of her time. Tureck was born into a musical family of Jewish-Russian immigrants to the U.S., began studying piano at 8, and soon became fascinated by electronic instruments after hearing Leon Theremin perform. By 16, she auditioned and was accepted at the Juilliard School, where she studied piano with Olga Samaroff. In New York, she also came into contact with Theremin again, receiving an internship with his ensemble and performing on many of his electronic instruments in venues including Carnegie Hall.

As her career began to take off, Tureck popularized performing all-Bach programs on the piano. At the time, a movement of “authenticity” in performance was current among many classical musicians, emphasizing historical accuracy and performance practice. Tureck disagreed, instead advocating for a more balanced view that considered historical traditions but also took advantage of modern advances and interpretations. She illuminated this concept in many of her performances, undertaking programs such as performing a single Bach work on a harpsichord, a modern piano, and an electronic keyboard, to illustrate differences in sonority and style. She would eventually use the term “absolute music” to describe Bach’s work, holding that his music represented a form of art that stood on its own regardless of differences in sound and style, or whether it was performed on a harpsichord of the composer’s time or a modern Moog synthesizer.

At the same time, she was a dedicated proponent of new music, premiering new works by leading composers including William Schuman, Aaron Copland, and Roger Sessions, and spending time with Arnold Schoenberg and Leonard Bernstein. Her concert series “Composers of Today” helped spur the careers of the day’s composers, presenting their music for audiences of fellow composers, musicians, and publishers.

Today, Tureck’s legacy lives on not just through her performing career, but through her Bach scholarship. In addition to performing his music extensively  and contributing to discussions of style and practice, she wrote several treatises on Bach, including the three-volume Introduction to the Performance of Bach. She also founded the Tureck Bach Research Institute, dedicated to further exploring a balance of musicology and performance practice in Bach’s music. In 2015, the Tureck Bach Institute merged with the Curtis Institute of Music, formally gifting a huge archive of documents, recordings, and research from Tureck’s career and establishing a named student fellowship at Curtis.

March 13: Curtis Operations Update on COVID-19, the “coronavirus”

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March 13, 2020

To the Curtis Community,

As you know, there have been rapid changes in our communities this week in response to the COVID-19 situation. In light of these changes, the Curtis Institute of Music is announcing further modifications and will suspend campus operations beginning Monday, March 23 following the conclusion of the previously announced extended spring break. Please see the attached document for more information about how these changes will impact you and who you can contact with specific questions.

Sincerely,

Roberto Díaz
President and CEO