Curtis Opera Theatre Presents “The Elixir of Love,” March 10 and 12

Press Contacts:
Patricia K. Johnson | patricia.johnson@curtis.edu | (215) 717-3190
Ryan Scott Lathan | ryan.lathan@curtis.edu | (215) 717-3145

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PHILADELPHIA, PA—February 28, 2023—The Curtis Opera Theatre presents Gaetano Donizetti’s hilarious bel canto masterpiece, The Elixir of Love (L’elisir d’amore), on Friday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 12 at 2:30 p.m. at the Philadelphia Film Center. Metropolitan Opera director Sarah Ina Meyers, whose work has been called “enchanting” by The New York Times, makes her Curtis debut in this delightful romantic comedy of errors. Acclaimed conductor Christian Capocaccia—who conducted the school’s 2019 production of The Barber of Seville—returns to lead an exciting cast of rising young opera stars and members of the renowned Curtis Symphony Orchestra in this clever steampunk and Victorian Era-inspired production. Curtis’s whimsical new production captures the spirit of late nineteenth-century fashion and ingenuity, with one foot in the past and one in the future, as Meyers, internationally renowned scenic designer Cameron Anderson, and award-winning costume designer Whitney Locher invite audiences to enter the fantastical mind of Adina, the opera’s genius heroine.

Featuring one of the most popular tenor arias of all time, “Una furtiva lagrima,” and a crowd-pleasing score, The Elixir of Love (L’elisir d’amore) was enthusiastically received upon its premiere in Milan on May 12, 1832, and has remained a perennial favorite ever since. In this visionary update, the laughs come fast and frequent as a love-struck, low-level lab assistant named Nemorino falls head-over-heels for Adina, a genius inventor, and scientist, who has her sights set on the dashing, flashy, and fickle Sergeant Belcore, who has arrived in town to recruit new soldiers. Following a foiled comic attempt to woo her, the pompous military man asks for her hand in marriage, but Adina is in no rush to settle down—not with so many electrifying inventions occupying her mind and her heart.

“The Elixir of Love” Cast (L-R): Joseph Tancredi, Emilie Kealani, Erik Tofte, Dalia Medovnikov, Evan Gray, and Sam Higgins.

Enter fast-talking con artist Dulcamara, a traveling salesman who peddles magic elixirs and swindles unwitting fools with his sleight-of-hand parlor tricks. The endearing Nemorino, convinced that drinking one of the man’s mysterious bottles of miracles will help him win the girl of his dreams, withdraws all his life’s savings in the name of love. He soon discovers that it will take more than a sip of liquid courage to make his wildest dreams come true.

“The opera glows in so many different scenarios and settings. It cries out for us to reinvent it,” says director Sarah Ina Meyers, and her sparkling production breathes new life into Gaetano Donizetti and librettist Felice Romani’s charming comedy of errors, one in which all the magic in the world is no match for the wonders of science and the power of true love. As the Curtis Institute of Music celebrates Women’s History Month and honors the many extraordinary women who have changed and continue to change the face of classical music, this remarkable production is a celebration of one woman’s imagination and intellect, and a love letter to the brilliance and creativity of women across the ages.

Single tickets for The Elixir of Love start at $19 and are available for purchase at Curtis.edu. Subscriptions are on sale for Curtis’s 2022–23 season. The flexible Choose Your Own subscription option offers 25% off ticket prices when purchasing tickets to two or more performances. Curtis is also offering a new Season Pass, providing access to all remaining performances in the 2022–23 season for $99 per person. To order a subscription, visit Curtis.edu/Subscribe, call (215) 893-7902, or email tickets@curtis.edu.

The Curtis Opera Theatre’s 2022–23 opera season concludes with George Frideric Handel’s baroque classic, Ariodante, at the Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, May 4–7 at 7:30 p.m. To learn more about these performances, as well as the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble 20/21 concerts, Curtis Recital Series, and more, visit Curtis.edu/Calendar.

The Curtis Opera Theatre has become known for imaginative productions, bold concepts, and absorbing theatre. Under the artistic direction of Eric Owens and the Hirsig Family Chair in Vocal Studies, Miloš Repický, promising young singers work alongside established professional directors and designers, resulting in fresh interpretations of standard repertoire and contemporary works. All of Curtis’s 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.

About the Curtis Institute of Music
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. For nearly a century, Curtis has provided each member of its small student body with an unparalleled education alongside musical peers, distinguished by a “learn by doing” philosophy and personalized attention from a faculty that includes a high proportion of actively performing musicians. With admissions based solely on artistic promise, no student is turned away due to financial need. Curtis invests in each admitted student, ensuring no tuition is charged for their studies, and they enter the profession free from educational debt. In a typical year, Curtis students hone their craft through more than 200 orchestra, opera, and solo and chamber music offerings in Philadelphia and around the world. Learn more at Curtis.edu.

 

CURTIS OPERA THEATRE: THE ELIXIR OF LOVE (L’ELISIR D’AMORE)

Music by Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto by Felice Romani

Friday, March 10, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 2:30 p.m.

Philadelphia Film Center
1412 Chestnut Street

Click HERE for more information.

Christian Capocaccia, conductor
Sarah Ina Meyers, stage director
Madison Hicks, choreographer
Cameron Anderson, set designer
Whitney Locher, costume designer
Tláloc López-Watermann, lighting designer
Brittany Rappise, hair and makeup supervisor

CAST 

Adina Emilie Kealani
Nemorino Joseph Tancredi
Belcore Erik Tofte
Dulcamara Evan Gray
Dulcamara’s Assistant Sam Higgins
Giannetta Dalia Medovnikov

 

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

Single tickets for The Elixir of Love start at $19: Curtis.edu. Subscription tickets are also available.

The Curtis Opera Theatre is generously supported by the Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation.

 

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Celebrating Black History: Alfred V. Brown (Viola ’52)

Born in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen on August 19, 1929, Alfred V. Brown (Viola ’52) was a musical trailblazer, a violist, violinist, record producer, arranger, and orchestral contractor who opened the door for countless Black musicians and female artists, as he championed their presence in the otherwise white, male-dominated studio recording business. Mr. Brown was also one of the first African American classical orchestral musicians at a time when the professional world of classical music in the United States was not ethnically diverse.

The oldest son of Obediah and Alma Brown from the West Indies, his academic journey took him first to the City College of New York. After graduating in 1947, he attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he was the first Black student to be admitted to the conservatory. He then transferred to Curtis Institute of Music in 1948, and studied with faculty members William Primrose and Karen Tuttle.

Al Brown with Joseph Silverstein (Violin ’50), c. 1951.

After completing his studies at Curtis, Mr. Brown became a member of the NBC Radio Orchestra, under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. This professional stepping stone became the catalyst to a successful career as an instrumentalist and producer in the recording industry from the 1960’s to 2010, and his listed discography numbers in the hundreds. As an instrumentalist, he was honored with the coveted National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ Award for Most Valuable Studio Musician in 1984, and had earlier been invited by Leonard Bernstein to join the New York Philharmonic, which would have led him to become the first Black musician in the orchestra (a title held by violinist Sanford Allen in 1962), but success in the recording business led him to graciously decline the offer.

As a producer, he found himself working in every possible musical style and genre, from jazz to disco, singer-songwriter, funk, rock, R&B, to folk and world music. Among his many accomplishments, he was producer for progressive funk band Mandrill, Lena Horne, and Ron Carter, as well as the first studio album for feminist singer-songwriter Cris Williamson. He toured with Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Luther Vandross, and Barbra Streisand, and worked with many artists, including Dawn Upshaw, Backstreet Boys, P.M. Dawn, Jackie DeShannon, Deodato, Divine, Yvonne Elliman, Aretha Franklin, Lena Horne, Carmen McRae, Portishead, Janis Ian, Arturo Sandoval, Many Patinkin, David Sanborn, and countless other musicians.

Throughout his career, Mr. Brown appeared in numerous Broadway shows, including Grand Hotel (1989) and Gypsy (1990). His playing can also be heard on countless pop and jazz albums as well as movie soundtracks including Philip Glass’s NaqoyqatsiThe Wiz, Victor/Victoria, the film Malcolm X, and many other Spike Lee film soundtracks.

His unerring musical sense offered him the opportunity as a contractor to assemble musicians for a veritable “who’s who” of recording artists: Britney Spears, David “Fathead” Newman, Grover Washington Jr., Lalo Schifrin, Chic, John Faddis, Ashford & Simpson, Hugh Masekela, and many others. In addition to the many album and recordings that he contracted, he put together a massive number of orchestras for film scores and TV commercials.

Alfred V. Brown passed away at age 84,  in Manhattan on November 17, 2013, after complications from an accidental fall. He was a sixty-four-year member of the Associated Musicians of Greater New York, American Federation of Musicians Local 802, the largest local union of professional musicians in the world.

Please visit the Curtis Institute of Music Open Archives and Recitals (CIMOAR). Learn more about Curtis’s library and archives HERE.

Photo Credits: 1–3.) Courtesy of the Curtis Archives and Special Collections. 4.) Courtesy of the Local 802. 

The Dover Quartet Names Julianne Lee as New Violist

Addition of Julianne Lee cements Dover Quartet’s place as one of America’s preeminent string quartets as it embarks on a new chapter.

Press Contacts:
Patricia K. Johnson | patricia.johnson@curtis.edu | (215) 717-3190
Ryan Scott Lathan | ryan.lathan@curtis.edu | (215) 717-3145

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PHILADELPHIA, PA—February 23, 2023—The Curtis Institute of Music is pleased to announce that the internationally-celebrated Dover Quartet has named Curtis alumna Julianne Lee (Violin ’05) as its new violist. Ms. Lee, who currently serves as assistant principal second violin of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal second violin with the Boston Pops Orchestra, has forged a remarkable career as both a violinist and violist, frequently appearing as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. She has been a member of the BSO violin section since 2006, serving as acting assistant concertmaster from 2013 to 2015, and was previously the principal second violinist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra from 2017 to 2019. Ms. Lee begins her new role with the Dover Quartet in September 2023, joining violinists Joel Link (String Quartet ’14, Violin ’11) and Bryan Lee (String Quartet ’14, Violin ’11) and cellist Camden Shaw (String Quartet ’14, Cello ’11, ’10). As a part of the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence, she will also join Curtis’s faculty beginning in the 2023–24 academic year.

With Ms. Lee’s appointment, the Dover Quartet continues carrying forward Curtis’s venerable legacy of teaching and performance excellence, and unparalleled commitment to chamber music training. The Dover Quartet draws on the lineage of the distinguished Guarneri, Cleveland, and Vermeer quartets, having been coached extensively by members of these ensembles during their time as students at Curtis. As both a violinist and violist, Ms. Lee follows in the footsteps of the late Michael Tree, who enjoyed an international career performing both violin and viola before joining the Guarneri Quartet as its founding violist.

“We are thrilled to welcome Curtis alumna Julianne Lee back to the school as she joins our faculty and the Dover Quartet,” says President and CEO Roberto Díaz. “Throughout Curtis’s nearly 100-year history, we have emphasized training young musicians to excel at chamber music, in addition to orchestral and solo repertoire, which makes the Curtis experience so unique. I am delighted to see Julianne and the quartet carry on this legacy, and inspire generations of students and audiences.”

Julianne Lee has toured nationally and internationally with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Marlboro Music Festival, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, where she held the title of guest principal violist. She also served as the second violinist of the Johannes String Quartet, an ensemble that performed commissioned works by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Derek Bermel, and William Bolcom. Throughout her illustrious career, she has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Germany, the United States, and South Korea and as a chamber musician at numerous music festivals, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music at the Banff Centre, Aspen Music Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival.

Ms. Lee graduated with a unanimous first prize at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris in France. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied violin and viola, and a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory, where she double majored in violin and viola. In addition to her extensive performing career, she is a respected faculty member at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and the Berklee College of Music.

“To say it was ‘love at first sound’ might sound silly, but that’s exactly what we experienced when we first read with Julianne. There was the uncanny feeling that we had already played together for years; and yet at the same time, the group sounded uniquely fresh and inspired. We are so fortunate and grateful to be welcoming her into our family and look forward to taking the Dover Quartet to new musical heights!” says Camden Shaw, cellist of the Dover Quartet, speaking on behalf of the ensemble.

Ms. Lee’s appointment follows the departure of the Dover Quartet’s founding violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt (String Quartet ’14, Viola ’11, ’10), who departed the quartet in August 2022, and the season-long appointment of violist Hezekiah Leung for the 2022–23 season. Mr. Leung will continue to perform as the quartet’s violist through August 2023.

Hailed as “the next Guarneri Quartet” (Chicago Tribune) and named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine, the GRAMMY-nominated ensemble has followed a “practically meteoric” (Strings) trajectory to become one of the most in-demand chamber ensembles in the world. In addition to its faculty role as the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Dover Quartet holds residencies with the Kennedy Center, Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Artosphere, and the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival. The group’s awards include a stunning sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Its prestigious honors include the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award.

The Dover Quartet’s 2022–23 season includes collaborations with Edgar Meyer, Joseph Conyers, and Haochen Zhang. The group tours Europe twice, including a return to London’s renowned Wigmore Hall and a debut performance in Copenhagen. The quartet recently premiered Steven Mackey’s theatrical-musical work Memoir alongside arx duo and actor-narrator Natalie Christa. Other recent and upcoming artist collaborations include Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnaton, Ray Chen, the Escher String Quartet, Bridget Kibbey, Anthony McGill, the Pavel Haas Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, the late Peter Serkin, and Davóne Tines. In addition to two previous albums for the label, Cedille Records released the third volume of the Dover Quartet’s Beethoven Complete String Quartets recording in October 2022. Volume 2–The Middle Quartets was nominated for a GRAMMY Award in 2022, and the quartet’s recording of The Schumann Quartets for Azica Records was nominated for a GRAMMY Award in 2020. The Dover Quartet was formed in 2008 at the Curtis Institute of Music.

The members of the Dover Quartet studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and New England Conservatory, where they were mentored extensively by Shmuel Ashkenasi, Victor Danchenko, Joseph DePasquale, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, Kenneth Goldsmith, Kim Kashkashian, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, Donald Weilerstein, and Peter Wiley. The Dover Quartet was formed at the Curtis Institute of Music, and its name pays tribute to Dover Beach by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber.

Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence
The Dover Quartet is the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at Curtis. Their faculty residency integrates teaching and mentorship, a robust international performance career, and a cutting-edge digital presence. With this innovative residency, Curtis reinvigorates its tradition of maintaining a top professional string quartet on its faculty while providing resources for the ensemble to experiment with new technologies and engage audiences through digital means. Working closely with students in the Nina von Maltzahn String Quartet Program, the resident ensemble will recruit the most promising young string quartets and foster their development in order to nurture a new generation of leading professional chamber ensembles.

About the Curtis Institute of Music
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. For nearly a century, Curtis has provided each member of its small student body with an unparalleled education alongside musical peers, distinguished by a “learn by doing” philosophy and personalized attention from a faculty that includes a high proportion of actively performing musicians. With admissions based solely on artistic promise, no student is turned away due to financial need. Curtis invests in each admitted student, ensuring no tuition is charged for their studies, and they enter the profession free from educational debt. In a typical year, Curtis students hone their craft through more than 200 orchestra, opera, and solo and chamber music offerings in Philadelphia and around the world. Learn more at Curtis.edu.

Photos of the Dover Quartet and Julianne Lee by Roy Cox.

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Behind-the-Scenes with Curtis Opera Theatre’s “Elixir of Love”

Rehearsals are now underway for Curtis Opera Theatre‘s second production of the 2022–23 season, Gaetano Donizetti’s hilarious bel canto masterpiece, The Elixir of Love (L’elisir d’amore), playing Friday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 12 at 2:30 p.m. at the Philadelphia Film Center. This highly anticipated new production, led by visionary Metropolitan Opera director Sarah Ina Meyers, award-winning costume designer Whitney Locher, and internationally renowned scenic designer Cameron Anderson, is a celebration of one woman’s imagination and intellect, and a love letter to the brilliance and creativity of women across the ages.

In anticipation of Curtis’s whimsical, steampunk, and Victorian Era-inspired production, the creative team has generously given the Curtis community an exclusive sneak peek of the costume and scenic designs for the opera. This exciting new production captures the spirit of late 19th-century fashion and ingenuity, with one foot in the past and one in the future, as Meyers, Locher, and Andersson invite audiences to enter the fantastical mind of Adina, the opera’s wily heroine, here re-envisioned as a genius inventor and scientist.

Click HERE to learn more about this charming romantic comedy, conducted by Christian Capocaccia. View the set design and gallery of costume sketches below.

Celebrating Black History: Louise Parker (Voice ’50)

Born in Philadelphia on July 23, 1926, renowned contralto Louise Parker began her musical studies at age eight and attended Curtis from 1946 to 1950, studying voice under Marion Freschl. Much of her formative life is unknown, but Ms. Parker was a two-time recipient of Marian Anderson scholarships, and following her studies at Curtis she made her official New York debut in 1958. Shortly after, she made her New York City Opera debut as Addie in Regina, composed by fellow Curtis alum Marc Blitzstein (Composition ’26). Throughout her career, she toured frequently in Europe and also performed in India, Indonesia, and the British West Indies.

In the world of singers, it is rare to find a real voice, of complete musicality, fine taste, and lively rhythm. Her deep, vibrant voice filled the auditorium with warm, lustrous sounds.” – The New York Times review of one of Louise Parker’s early New York recitals.

In 1961, Ms. Parker was a soloist on The Sound of Stokowski and Wagner, featuring selections from Wagner’s Die Walküre and Das Rheingold, and the following year, joined John Raitt, Barbara Cook, William Warfield, and others for a recording of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Show Boat. In 1963, she recorded George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Samson with soprano Phyllis Curtain and the Utah Symphony Orchestra, and in 1964, she recorded Paul Hindemith’s oratorio, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed: A Requiem for Those We Love, with bass-baritone George London and The Schola Cantorum of New York directed by the composer.

1967 saw her record Claudio Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea in Alfred Hertz Memorial Hall of Music at the University of California, Berkley, with conductor Alan Curtis, and join the cast of Hans Werner Henze’s Young Lord with San Diego Opera. In 1971, she appeared in Leopold Stokowski’s last New York performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2., and sang in the 1972 world premiere of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha, a joint production of the music department of Morehouse College and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Atlanta, Georgia, using the orchestration by T. J. Anderson.

As her public performances ended, Ms. Parker took on various teaching positions at Temple University, Western Connecticut State College, and the Jenkintown Music School, allowing her to share her vast experience and expertise with a new generation of operatic singers. Louise Parker passed away in 1986 at age 60 in Wynnewood, Philadelphia.

Please visit the Curtis Institute of Music Open Archives and Recitals (CIMOAR). Learn more about Curtis’s library and archives HERE.

Photo Credits: 1.) Detroit Public Library, E. Azalia Hackley Collection. 2.) Curtis Institute of Music Archives. 3.) Louise Parker (Filipjevna) and Theresa Green (Tatjana) in a January 6, 1949 performance of Eugene Onegin, Scene II, Act I, presented alongside a performance of Franco Leoni’s one act opera L’Oracolo; Curtis Institute of Music Archives. 4.) World premiere of Treemonisha in 1972 with Seth McCoy as Remus, choreographer and director Katherine Dunham in cap, Contralto Louise Parker as Monisha, Alpha Floyd in pigtails as Treemonisha, and Musical Director Dr. Wendall Whalum. Katherine Dunham Archives, Marjorie Lawrence Archives, Southern Illinois University Archives. 5.) Louise Parker’s graduation photo in 1950; Curtis Institute of Music Archives.