Month: November 2023

Himari Yoshimura Featured on Japan’s ANN News

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“I you’re listening to Himari and you close your eyes, you don’t realize her age. Inside Himari there is an older person and a wise musician…she’s immensely talented.” —Ida Kavafian, Nina von Maltzahn Chair in Violin Studies

12-year-old violin student Himari Yoshimura was featured on the Japanese television network ANN News (All-Nippon News). The prize-winning musician, who recently made her U.S. concert debut with the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra alongside her teacher, celebrated violinist Ida Kavafian, discusses how she balances her academic studies and homework while still practicing eight hours per day. The segment follows Ms. Yoshimura’s life in Philadelphia and explores her musical path to Curtis.

Himari Yoshimura, from Tokyo, entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2022. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Yoshimura is a Curtis Institute of Music Fellow.

To view the video with YouTube’s translated subtitles, ensure closed captioning (CC) is turned on, and select your language from the settings gear icon menu. 

Photo of Ms. Yoshimura courtesy of Nichole MCH Photography. Image of Ms. Yoshimura as the audience prize winner of the “Mini Violini” opening concert of the Concours Musical International de Montréal (CMIM), courtesy of The Violin Channel. 

Interview with Alistair Coleman in I Care If You Listen

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Prize-winning Curtis composition student Alistair Coleman was recently interviewed for I Care If You Listen. The 2023 Young Concert Artists Composer-in-Residence has received awards from ASCAP and the American Composers Forum, has been featured on NPR’s From The Top, and is actively involved in mentioning the next generation of composers. In 2020 he founded the Opportunity Music Project Composition Lab with Carnegie Hall’s PlayUSA, which pairs young composers with seasoned mentors, offering feedback and support as they continue to hone their craft. Mr. Coleman, who is currently writing a new piece for bass-baritone Joseph Parrish and pianist Damien Sneed to be premiered in February of 2024 at the Kennedy Center, shares his thoughts on five questions posed by Tristan McKay of I Care If You Listen.

Read the article HERE, and visit Mr. Coleman’s official website.

Photos of Alistair Coleman courtesy of Nichole MCH Photography.

 

Conductor Micah Gleason Featured on WHYY’s “On Stage at Curtis”

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“My path to Curtis was so winding and unexpected. I would definitely tell my younger self to trust the process. Don’t try to rush anything. Trust that you’re learning from every single experience you have, musical or otherwise.” —Micah Gleason

Season 18 of WHYY’s acclaimed On Stage at Curtis series opens with a portrait of Micah Gleason, second-year Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow at Curtis. Recognized for her diverse performance abilities as a conductor, vocal soloist, and chamber musician, Ms. Gleason entered the school in 2022 and studies with renowned conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Her musical journey began with singing, and her love for music was ignited through performance experiences in large choirs and orchestras, prompting her to study voice, opera, choral and chamber music, art songs, and smaller-scale works.

The Chapel Hill, North Carolina native was enamored with music from a young age, listening to the albums of opera singers like Kathleen Battle, taking free voice lessons at the local university with graduate students at the suggestion of her mother, and attending the Interlochen Arts Camp and the Interlochen Arts Academy in her final years of high school. Through these formative moments, she was inspired to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts and Master of Music degrees in conducting and vocal arts from the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

While at Curtis, Ms. Gleason has conducted many chamber works, such Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques with Ensemble 20/21, and Richard Strauss’s Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. She opened the Ensemble 20/21’s season this month with a performance of Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs, where she conducts and sings from the podium.

In this episode of On Stage at Curtis, she tackles Julia Perry‘s Study for Orchestra (also known as a Short Piece for Orchestra) with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and Igor Stravinsky‘s thrilling tale of trickery and magic, L’Histoire du Soldat, featuring the talents of Curtis’s young musicians alongside beloved actor and narrator John de Lancie, award-winning performer David Shifrin (Clarinet ’71); and prominent soloist and chamber musician Soovin Kim (Violin ’99).

Click HERE to watch the On Stage at Curtis episode, or click the video below.

GRADUATION RECITAL

In a culmination of her studies at Curtis, Micah Gleason will present her graduation recital on Saturday, December 2, at 7:30 p.m., at Gould Rehearsal Hall on the Curtis campus, conducting Manuel De Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat, Suites no. 1 and 2, Jesse Montgomery’s Coincident Dances, and Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1, with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. To attend this recital, click HERE. This performance will also be broadcast live on Curtis’s Facebook and YouTube channels.

Visit Micah Gleason’s official website.

Photos of Ms. Gleason courtesy of Micah Gleason Photo.

Louisa Womack “Live for Life” Wellness Day 2023

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Established in 2013 and named in honor of the late double bass student Louisa Womack, who tragically died the year before, Curtis’s “Live for Life” Wellness Day returned this month on Friday, November 17, with a flurry of workshops and events. The day concluded with a keynote address by Due Quach, bestselling author of the book Calm Clarity: Rewiring Your Brain for Greater Wisdom, Fulfillment & Joy.

Wellness Day 2023 featured a Rittenhouse Fun Run led by Jonathan Coopersmith, chair of musical studies at Curtis; a discussion on financial wellness for students by alumnus Paul Lafollette (Horn ‘98); and a Wellness Fair with representatives from local businesses, nonprofits, and Curtis departments. Additionally, there was a flower ceremony honoring Louisa’s life, a yoga workshop led by instructors from Yoga4Philly, and a workshop on preserving hearing from the Jefferson Balance & Hearing Center, all highlighting the belief that at Curtis, the wellness of the group is inseparable from the wellness of any individual.

View the gallery below to see photos from the day.

To learn more about the Curtis Institute of Music’s mental health resources, including those relating to social, occupational, financial, environmental, intellectual, physical, and spiritual wellness, click HERE.

Photos of students, staff, and faculty during Wellness Day, courtesy of oboe student Oliver Talukder. Portrait of author Due Quach courtesy of calmclarity.org.

Curtis Opera Theatre: L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (Photo Roundup)

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Curtis Opera Theatre‘s daring new production of George Frideric Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (The Cheerful Man, the Thoughtful Man, and the Moderate Man) opened the Curtis Opera Theatre’s 2023–24 season on November 10 and 12 at the Philadelphia Film Center.

Based on two poems by John Milton, this theatrical pastoral ode featured staging and costume design by acclaimed director Chas Rader-Shieber. Under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, “one of the finest baroque conductors of his generation” (Independent), L’Allegro showcased an exciting cast of rising young opera stars accompanied by members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra.

Check out photo highlights below, showcasing the casts of L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, courtesy of Ashley E. Smith/Wide Eyed Studios.