Month: March 2024

Michelle Cann Named Christel DeHaan Artistic Partner of the American Pianists Association

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Critically acclaimed Curtis alumna and faculty member, pianist Michelle Cann (ʼ13), was announced as the American Pianists Association‘s first Christel DeHaan Artistic Partner. This exciting news accompanies the official announcement naming the five finalists of the 2025 American Pianists Awards, which include Curtis alumnus Michael Davidman (’19), Curtis student Avery Gagliano, and pianists Sasha Kasman Laude, Elliot Wuu, and Angie Zhang. Each of these extraordinary musicians will compete for the prestigious Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship, given every four years to an American classical pianist at the conclusion of the organization’s 13-month competition.

In her new role, a position made possible by a Legacy Grant from the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, Ms. Cann will provide further support and mentorship to the five finalists and oversee all artistic aspects of the competition, including managing the nomination process, jury selection, and concert programming. In spring 2022, she performed on the American Pianists Association’s recital series and has since fostered a strong collaborative relationship with the organization.

“It is an honor to join such a prestigious organization that is elevating the voices of today,” Ms. Cann said. “I am so exited to work through this process and help support these great young pianists, and I cannot wait to see all of this through to the finals in April 2025.”

Read the official announcement HERE, and learn more about the American Pianists Association.

In the summer of 2023, Ms. Cann’s “breathtakingly powerful” debut album Revival, Music of Price & Bonds was praised in BBC Music Magazine with a glowing, four-star review, highlighting “a performance from Cann that is as subtle as it is exuberant.”

Read the review of HERE, and learn more about the recording HERE.

Visit Michelle Cann’s official website.

Photos of Michelle Cann by Titilayo Ayangade.

Student Spotlight: William McGregor

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“As I started to see an interesting orchestral drive in myself, I thought, this is something so cool that you only get to do once in a lifetime, but I have the chance to do this for the rest of life if I work hard enough. I knew this had to be my goal.”

Double bassist William McGregor shares his story and dives into his experience at Curtis alongside his love for living in Philadelphia, noting the excitement he feels knowing that he studies the roots of all forms of music. The Ann Arbor, Michigan native first entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2018 and received a Bachelor of Music degree in 2022. He is now pursuing a master’s degree, studying double bass with Harold Hall Robinson and Edgar Meyer as the Shaun F. O’Malley Fellow. 

At age two, Mr. McGregor began playing the double bass (a tiny cello tuned down to sound like the instrument he would ultimately choose). As a child, the first piece of music he gravitated towards was Gioachino Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville. By the time he was in high school, he decided that his love for symphonic repertoire could open up an unconventional career path for him.

Winner of several competitions including the 2017 Stulberg International String Competition, the 2012 and 2016 Juilliard Pre-College Open Competitions, the 2013 Salomé Chamber Orchestra Young Artist Competition, and the 2012 Ensemble 212 Young Artist Competition, Mr. McGregor has performed as a soloist at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall.

Photos of William McGregor courtesy of Nichole MCH Photography and Jeff Reeder Photography.

Celebrating Women’s History: Judit Jaimes (Piano ’60)

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“Judit Jaimes is the new Teresa Carreño, due to her perfect technique and interpretation, to a degree that only a few master achieve.” —Witold Małcużyński, legendary Polish pianist

Born in San Antonio del Táchira, Venezuela, on January 22, 1939, renowned pianist, educator, and Curtis alumna Carmen Judit de Betula Jaimes Hernández, known professionally as Judit Jaimes (Piano ’60), began her musical studies at age four, studying piano under the guidance of maestro Miguel Ángel Espinel.

At age six, Ms. Jaimes gave her first public performance at the Municipal Theater of Caracas. Witnessing her extraordinary talent, government officials offered for Venezuela to finance the child’s musical education, and the rest was history. A few years later, she was awarded a scholarship to study in New York as a student of Olga Stroumillo and Isabella Vengerova. She was then invited to attend Curtis in 1951. Over the next nine years, she studied here in Philadelphia with Rudolf Serkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski and performed as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concert in 1953. 

Throughout the next few decades, Ms. Jaimes’s rising career found her recording and performing with many of the most prestigious American and European orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and many others. Praised in the New York Times for her April 22, 1978, solo recital performance at Alice Tully Hall as “a Venezuelan pianist of impeccable taste and the kind of keyboard facility that meets the demands of difficult music without ever calling attention to itself,” she continued to receive acclaim and garner international attention for her talents.  

As a soloist, Ms. Jaimes inaugurated the Aula Magna auditorium—a 2020 World Heritage Site of Humanity as declared by UNESCO—with the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Pedro Antonio Ríos Reyna on March 12, 1954. She went on to present numerous concerts and recitals across the globe, frequently performing works by Latin American and Venezuelan composers, including Rhazés Hernández López, Juan Vicente Lecuna, Moisés Moleiro, and Antonio Estévez. A firm believer in providing opportunities for the next generation of classical musicians, she was also one of the leading proponents of the Sistema Nacional de Orquestas y Coros Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela (National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela) led by maestro José Antonio Abreu.

After receiving Venezuela’s National Music Prize in 1988 and having the city of San Cristóbal name its school of the arts in her honor, Ms. Jaimes moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She served as the head of the piano department at the Peck School of Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 1988 until her retirement in 2011.

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

Photo Credits: 1. & 2.) Portraits of Ms. Jaimes, courtesy of Elena Abend’s official YouTube page. 2.) 1953 press photo of Judit Jaimes (known as the “Bobbysox Pianist” for wearing white bobbysox at performances) at age 13 in New York; United Press Photo, 2/12/53. 3.) The 1978 cover of Judit Jaimes’s LP recording of Schumann, Grieg Piano Concerti with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton maestro Eduardo Mata; Enigma Record Label. 4.) Ms. Jaimes’s graduation photo at Curtis; courtesy of the Curtis Archives. 5.)  Judit Jaimes and her former student, pianist Ian Tomaz, December 2018; Cecilia Brown; Wikimedia.

Behind-the-Scenes with Curtis Opera Theatre’s Captivating Double Bill

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Rehearsals are underway for Curtis Opera Theatre‘s second production of the 2023–24 season, a pairing of two 20th-century masterpieces, Francis Poulenc’s outrageously funny farce, Les Mamelles de Tirésias and Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s darkly satirical work, The Seven Deadly Sins, Friday, March 15, and Sunday, March 17, at the Philadelphia Film Center. This highly anticipated double bill led by critically acclaimed director Eve Summer, features an exciting cast of rising young opera stars accompanied by members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of renowned conductor Michelle Rofrano.

In anticipation of Curtis’s upcoming performances, Micah Gleason, Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, recent Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship awardee, and accomplished photographer, went behind the scenes of a recent rehearsal to capture some images of Curtis Opera Theatre students taking on these surreal, satirical classics. As an additional sneak peek, view some illustrated renderings below from award-winning costume designer Whitney Locher and internationally renowned scenic designer Cameron Anderson.

Click HERE to learn more about Les Mamelles du Tirésias and The Seven Deadly Sins. Photo of the Les Mamelles cast in rehearsal by Micah Gleason Photography.

Celebrating Women’s History: Sheila Harris Jackson (Voice ’83)

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“Sheila Harris Jackson not only sings with great beauty, she has total dedication and a burning desire to succeed.” —Todd Duncan, renowned operatic baritone and Curtis faculty member from 1977–90

A native of Franklin, Kentucky, acclaimed soprano, voice teacher, and Curtis alumna Sheila Harris Jackson (Voice ’83) graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music education and performance and studied with Ohm Pauli. That fall she attended Curtis and studied with Todd Duncan, Dr. Vladimir Sokoloff, and Sylvia Olden Lee. Throughout her academic career, she received numerous awards, including honors through the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition, the William Paterson University Scholar’s Award, the Lincoln Foundation Scholarship Award, the New Jersey Governor’s Teacher Award, and a Western Kentucky Vocal Music Scholarship.

Over the past four decades, Mrs. Jackson has appeared with the Houston Grand Opera, the New York City Opera, the former Pennsylvania Opera Theater, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, the Bermuda Fine Arts Festival, and in the off-Broadway musical, Spectrum. Additionally, she has given performances and concerts throughout Europe and the United States, including the Teatro Real in Madrid; Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Italy; the Bregenz Opera Festival in Austria; Samedis Musicaux de Chartres, France; and Carnegie Hall.

Mrs. Jackson has performed under the batons of conductors Andrew Litton, Leonard Bernstein, Gian-Carlo Menotti, and Christopher Keene; and collaborated with jazz pianist Barry Harris, legendary singer Roberta Flack, and operatic tenor George Shirley. She has stated, “My singing is a spiritual calling. It is a gift from God. I not only enjoy it, I feel a great responsibility to share it with others.” Mrs. Jackson continues to perform, educate, and inspire the next generation of singers in New Jersey.

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

Photo Credits: 1.) Headshot of Sheila Harris Jackson, courtesy of Western Kentucky University’s Music Wall of Fame. 2.) Mrs. Jackson with pianist and former Curtis faculty member Hugh Sung (Piano ’90) at 1726 Locust Street; Curtis Music Institute Archives. 3.) 1983 Curtis graduation photo with Mrs. Jackson sitting on the third row from the bottom; Curtis Music Institute Archives. 4.) Portrait of Mrs. Jackson, courtesy of Backstage.com.