Month: May 2021

Ed Gazouleas Appointed Gie and Lisa Liem Artistic Director

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The Curtis Institute of Music has appointed Ed Gazouleas as the new Gie and Lisa Liem Artistic Director. He will serve as an important partner to President Roberto Díaz in the lead up to the school’s centenary in 2024.

Mr. Gazouleas is a 1984 viola graduate of Curtis and joined the faculty in 2017. He was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra before spending 24 years with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and is currently the head of orchestra activities for the Tanglewood Music Center. Mr. Gazouleas has been on faculty at a number of schools, most notably at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where he had served as viola professor since 2012, and also at the New England Conservatory, where he co-designed and taught the musician entrepreneurship curriculum. Read his full biography.

Over the summer, Mr. Gazouleas will transition to his new role as he wraps up his other obligations. Curtis looks forward to welcoming him when the community returns to campus in the 2021–22 academic year.

Cristina Cutts Dougherty in Residence at Performance Today

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On May 20, Performance Today featured tuba student Cristina Cutts Dougherty as Young Artist in Residence, the program’s first-ever tuba soloist! Learn more about Cristina’s career and her path to Curtis, and explore her performance and educational videos. Listen to the full episode and learn more HERE.

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

Students and Community Artist Fellows Showcase Their Collaborations

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Community-based projects are an essential part of a Curtis education, informing students’ development as artists and empowering them to invent careers with impact after their graduation. Learn more about the full Artist Citizen curriculum at Curtis and explore our students’ work from the Spring 2021 semester.

Members of the Social Entrepreneur class partnered with students from Girard College (ages 15–18) in North Philadelphia in the fall and spring semesters. The end result is “Message in a Bottle,” which expresses their thoughts on the many challenges of the 2020–21 school year.

Some highlights from “Message in a Bottle” include:

  • 0:22 – Girard College Fine Arts Chairman Paul Eaton calls his students to action
  • 3:35 – trumpet solo by James Vaughen
  • 11:07 – original song “Gen Z Up”
  • 11:39 – piano solo by Avery Gagliano
  • 19:35 – oboe solo by Jamison Hillian
  • 21:25 – spring semester final project

The Community Artist Fellowship program is generously supported by Professor Frank F. Furstenberg Jr., in memory of Nina Segre.

The Curtis Institute of Music received funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

Curtis’s Ensemble 20/21 Closes Season With Harp Premieres

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WHEN: Sunday, May 16 at 3 p.m.; available for on-demand viewing through May 31

WHERE: Online, broadcast event on Facebook.com/CurtisInstitute

COST: Free; register for on-demand access at Curtis.edu/Ensemble

The Curtis Institute of Music’s contemporary music group, Ensemble 20/21, closes its virtual season with three premieres for solo harp, performed by Coline-Marie Orliac (Harp ’10). The new works were commissioned by Curtis for the occasion with the support of the Allen R & Judy Brick Freedman Venture Fund for Music: Introspection by Kat Souponetsky (Composition ’12), A Mother’s Lullaby by Rene Orth (Composition ’16), and Pitter-Patter by Dai Wei (Composition ’19).

French harpist Coline-Marie Orliac is sought-after as a soloist and chamber musician. Festival appearances in the U.S. and Europe include St. Barts Music Festival, the Newport Music Festival, the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the festival of the Vladimir Spivakov International Charitable Foundation, the World Harp Congress, and Festival de Musique de Menton. She is a frequent guest with the Berlin and Vienna philharmonics, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, among others. More information at ColineMarieOrliac.com.

Flexible in size and scope, Ensemble 20/21 performs a wide range of music from the 20th and 21st centuries, including works by Curtis students and alumni. The ensemble has appeared at major U.S. venues such as the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Miller Theatre, as well as international venues, including the Intimacy of Creativity festival in Hong Kong. The ensemble has presented concert portraits of iconic composers in residence Unsuk Chin, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alvin Singleton, and Chen Yi, among many others. Of the ensemble’s Joan Tower portrait program, the New York Times wrote, “Ms. Tower could hardly have hoped for more passionate performances.” Ensemble 20/21 is led by artistic director David Serkin Ludwig.

 

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Curtis Mourns Ghenady Meirson

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Curtis is saddened to share the news that our longtime Russian vocal repertoire coach, Ghenady Meirson (Accompanying ’81, ’84), passed away on Saturday, May 8 at age 63 after a difficult battle with cancer.

Mr. Meirson, known as “Ghena,” was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1957, graduated from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, and came to the Curtis Institute of Music in 1977, where he studied piano with Seymour Lipkin (Piano ’47) and Mieczyslaw Horszowski and accompanying with Vladimir Sokoloff (Accompanying ’38). He joined the Curtis faculty in 1990, and was also a member of the faculty at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts.

In 1982 he began specializing in Russian vocal repertoire and wrote a singer’s handbook entitled Do Sing in Russian. He coached countless artists for operas, oratorios, recitals, and recordings; and worked as a Russian language coach for such organizations as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Singers, and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia.

A dedicated teacher throughout his career, in 1996 Mr. Meirson founded PrivateLessons.com, a membership-based network that connects the public with independent music teachers. In 2011, he founded Russian Opera Workshop, an independent summer immersion training program in Philadelphia for aspiring and professional opera singers.

Mr. Meirson loved coaching vocalists in Russian repertoire, helping students embrace the music with joy and confidence. “Learning to sing in Russian can be intimidating and I don’t like to see anyone be stressed about it. My teaching style is easygoing and yes, I am more of a kid than my students,” he once said.

Director of Vocal Studies Eric Owens (Opera ’95) said: “Ghena was a consummate musician, with a striking ability to connect with his students and fellow musicians—always with the goal of excellence. And on that journey towards excellence, you had the best traveling partner: one who had the brightest soul and a heart of gold. All of this was apparent in his larger-than-life smile that never failed to lighten your spirit. He will live on in the hearts and minds of all who knew him.”

Curtis is grateful to have had Mr. Meirson as part of its family for so many years. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to his wife, Laura Meirson (Voice ’83), and his children Rachel and Leonard, as well as to all his friends, family, and colleagues. He will be greatly missed.