Category: Archives

Celebrating Black History: Rodney Marsalis (Trumpet ’91)

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“No one plays absolutely beautifully all the time…unless you’re my cousin Rodney” —Wynton Marsalis

Praised by critics from Fanfare Magazine to American Record Guide, widely renowned trumpeter Rodney Marsalis (’91) has carved out a formidable career on the international music scene since his days studying at Curtis under the guidance of Frank Kaderabek; former Philadelphia Orchestra principal horn, Mason Jones; and Glenn Dodson, former principal trombone of the orchestra. Born in New Orleans, Mr. Marsalis began his musical journey at age six, and by the time he was eleven, he started taking classical trumpet lessons with his cousin, Wynton Marsalis. Hailed from a young age as a “trumpet prodigy,” he made his solo debut at fifteen with the New Orleans Symphony. He then won numerous competitions and garnered national attention at age nineteen, when he was selected to perform as a soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

While at Curtis, Mr. Marsalis practiced trumpet for “five to six hours daily,” and this passion and discipline ultimately led to summers spent as a Tanglewood Fellow under the baton of Leonard Bernstein (Conducting ’41) and being mentored by pianist and Curtis faculty member Rudolf Serkin at both Tanglewood and the Marlboro Music Festival. He then secured titled chairs in the New Orleans Symphony, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfonica de Tenerife, the Barcelona Symphony, and the Richmond Symphony. In Europe, after winning international auditions in the Canary Islands and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra as principal trumpet, he began to establish a global presence, working with some of the world’s leading soloists and conductors before coming back to Philadelphia and founding one of America’s premier large brass ensembles.

“I built a modern-day version of Marsalis Mansion,” says Mr. Marsalis. “Marsalis Mansion Artists, LLC, an agency that manages the thriving chamber ensemble—The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass, my solo career and educational endeavors, and the work of fellow artists from all walks of life. I have had unique experiences soloing with orchestras in collaboration with dear friends like former Curtis student and Minnesota Orchestra violinist Helen Chang Haertzen (’95). I have had the good fortune to participate in life-changing educational work with Troy Peters (Composition ’91) and premiered exciting new arrangements as a soloist with former Curtis student André Smith [Raphel] (Conducting ’89). I have had countless wonderful experiences in concert halls and music schools worldwide, from China, Japan, and Taiwan to Europe, South America, and all 50 states, recording as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral principal trumpet player for Decca, Koch International Classics, and Naxos.”

After completing a one-year trial period, Mr. Marsalis was awarded the principal trumpet position with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. During his tenure as principal trumpet with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, he was appointed head of the trumpet department at the Escuela Superior de Musica de Catalunya (ESMUC), Spain’s leading music conservatory. He has recently been invited to give master classes at the Julliard School, the North Carolina School for the Arts, the National Trumpet Competition, and the International Trumpet Guild Conference.

“Reflecting on how Curtis produced amazing artists by removing barriers and giving students space and time to grow is interesting,” says Mr. Marsalis. “I was given the gift of time to achieve my goal of winning an orchestra job. I did neglect piano practice (sorry, Ms. Petite!) I also passed sight singing by the skin of my teeth (those Bach Chorales were challenging but helpful, Mei-Mei Meng!). Fortunately, I had the support of my wonderful and loving teacher, Mr. Frank Kaderabek, and fellow students and ample time to focus on improving.”

Mr. Marsalis recently stopped by his alma mater: “I brought my daughter to visit the pictures on the wall from graduation with the help of Shea Scruggs (Oboe ’04) [director of institutional research and musician experience/chief enrollment officer] and Kei Fukuda [musician life cycle manager]. As she begins her journey with music, science, and the arts, it was a thrill for my kiddo to see me (with hair) and all of the venerable and beloved friends and colleagues from the Curtis Institute.”

Learn more about Rodney Marsalis and the Rodney Marsalis Big Brass, visit their official website HERE.

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

All photos are courtesy of Mr. Marsalis and The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass. Photo of Rodney Marsalis and his daughter Amati at Curtis courtesy of Mr. Marsalis and Shea Scruggs.

Celebrating Black History: Theresa Green Coleman (Voice ’50)

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“Theresa Green possesses a beautiful voice and combines it with artistic maturity and intelligence. Miss Green proved that she has a real gift of communication besides considerable imagination.”—New York Post

Renowned soprano and Curtis alumna Theresa Green Coleman (Opera ’50) grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. The daughter of Rev. Dr. Joshua Henry Green and church organist Goldie Ianthia Green, Ms. Coleman rose to national and global acclaim during the late 1950s through the early 1970s. She began studying voice at age 12 with a private teacher, then moved to New York City to work with Canadian mezzo-soprano and voice teacher Éva Gauthier before coming to Curtis, where she graduated in the spring of 1950. Here, she was notably selected by Efrem Zimbalist to represent the school in its 25th anniversary program at the Academy of Music, where she sang, in Russian, the role of Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Ms. Coleman coached with noted soprano Winifred Cecil before completing her studies at the Juilliard School.

Winner of numerous prizes, Ms. Coleman received the prestigious Marian Anderson Award, a John Hay Whitney Fellowship, and the annual award of the JUGGS, a private foundation for the advancement of outstanding young musical talent. At the JUGGS ceremony, fellow Curtis alumnus Gian Carlo Menotti (Composition ’33) said, “I believe that in Theresa Greene, we have a rare combination of a rich, flexible voice and an exciting temperament.” As a result of winning the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scout TV program, she was presented three times by Mr. Godfrey, who was immensely impressed with her talent and performances.

Following her New York debut recital at Town Hall—the result of her JUGGS prize—which elevated her reputation in the classical music world and catapulted her to stardom as “a voice of real beauty” and “a new artist of importance” (New York Times) Ms. Coleman toured throughout the United States, from Boston and Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. and her hometown of Baltimore, garnering rave reviews at each stop. In 1965, she was invited to appear at the White House to sing at the Inaugural Concert of President Lyndon B. Johnson, joining pianist Van Cliburn, baritone Todd Duncan, violinist Isaac Stern, and the National Symphony Orchestra for this significant moment.

When she made her European concert debut, critics in Germany, Austria, Holland, and Sweden were unanimous in their praise, heaping superlatives on the young artist. “A gracious beauty, and what a voice!” exclaimed one Stockholm critic. Under Columbia Artists Management, Ms. Coleman went on to perform under the batons of renowned conductors including Leonard Bernstein; Erich Leinsdorf; and violinist, composer, conductor, and director of the Curtis Institute of Music Efrem Zimbalist, during an international career that lasted many decades.

Theresa Green Coleman passed away at age 95 in Minneapolis on June 25, 2020.

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

Photo Credits: 1 & 5.) Portraits of Theresa Green Coleman courtesy of the Detroit Public Library digital collections; James Abresch. 2.) 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 at the Academy of Music; Curtis Institute of Music Archives. 4.) Promotional photo issued by Columbia Artists Management; photographer uncredited.

Celebrating Black History: Gwendolyn Bradley (Opera ’77)

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Internationally acclaimed soprano, vocal instructor, and Curtis alumna Gwendolyn Bradley (Opera ’77) grew up in Bishopville, South Carolina, and became one of the foremost operatic artists of the 1980s and 1990s. The daughter of public school educators and civil rights activists, she began voice lessons at Coker College in Hartsville after her high school music teacher recognized her remarkable gifts. From there, she continued her training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. She graduated in 1974 and attended Curtis from 1974 to 1977, followed by additional studies at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

In 1976, Ms. Bradley made her operatic debut as Nannetta in Giuseppe Verdi’s comic opera Falstaff with Lake George Opera (now Opera Saratoga). She became a finalist in the National Metropolitan Opera Competition and, subsequently, the youngest singer on the roster. In 1981, she made her MET debut as the Nightingale in L’Enfant et les sortilèges and gave 108 performances at the Metropolitan Opera. For nine seasons, the coloratura soprano was heard in leading roles such as Gilda in Rigoletto, Blondchen in Die Entführung auf dem Serail, the title role of Igor Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol, Clara in Porgy and Bess, Fiakermilli in Arabella, and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos. She also appeared as the mechanical doll Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffman, which was aired on a PBS special broadcast.

Gwendolyn Bradley performs the dazzling, acrobatic aria, “Les oiseaux dans la charmilles” from Jacques Offenbach’s opera, Les contes d’Hoffman at the Metropolitan Opera in 1988. 

Ms. Bradley made her European debut in the title role in George Frideric Handel’s opera Rodelinda in 1983 with the Netherlands Opera. From there on, she performed roles such as Zerbinetta, Susanna, Pamina, Blondchen, Adina, Despina, and Rodelinde in opera houses in cities across Europe, including Paris, Montpellier, Nice, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Hamburg, Vienna, and Amsterdam.

In 1987, she made her Deutsche Oper Berlin debut as Gilda, becoming one of their leading international stars for 15 years from 1988 to 2003. In the United States, she performed roles with Memphis Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre (now Detroit Opera), Central City Opera in Colorado, Cleveland Opera, and LA Opera. A renowned concert singer, performing works that spanned from Baroque to the 20th century, she also appeared as a soloist with many distinguished orchestras and as a recitalist, working with such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, André Previn, and Lorin Maazel, from Carnegie Hall to Tokyo. Praised by the New York Times for a voice with a “distinctly radiant timbre,” Ms. Bradley performed for Queen Elizabeth II and queens of Spain and Sweden throughout her illustrious career.

An audio recording of Gwendolyn Bradley performing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s florid concert aria, “Sol nascente” K.70 in Paris, France, 1987.

Throughout the early to mid-2000s, Ms. Bradley made numerous appearances at the International Music Festival Krystyna Jamroz in Busko-Zdrój, Poland, and in 2004, began teaching at The Masters School, a private, coeducational boarding school and day college preparatory school in the Hudson River Valley north of New York City. A year later, in September 2005, she joined the faculty of Alliance University (formerly Nyack College), where she continues to teach voice and coach the next generation of talented young classical singers.

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

Photo Credits: 1.) Portrait of Gwendolyn Bradley courtesy of the South Carolina African American History Calendar. 2.) Gwendolyn Bradley on May 19, 1994 as a soloist with the L’Orchestra Symphonique Français, courtesy of the Festival D’Auvers. 3.) Ms. Bradley as Fauno in Mozart’s pastoral opera, Ascanio in Alba in Paris (left), and a promotional photo as Olympia in Le conte d’Hoffman with the Metropolitan Opera (right); courtesy of the Gwendolyn Bradley fan club page. 4.) Ms. Bradley as Zerlina in Don Giovanni with LA Opera (left) and as Fiakermilli in Arabella with the Metropolitan Opera; courtesy of the Gwendolyn Bradley fan club page. 5.) Image courtesy of Ms. Bradley’s official X account (formerly known as Twitter). 6.) Ms. Bradley at the XIV. International Music Festival of Krystyna Jamroz, Poland, Busko-Zdrój, July 2008; courtesy of Jarosław Roland Kruk/wikipedia.org.

Celebrating Black History: Darrin C. Milling (Trombone ’90)

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Renowned bass trombonist, educator, and Curtis alumnus Darrin Coleman Milling (’90) has premiered five solo concertos, along with a dozen chamber and unaccompanied works written for him throughout his career. Over the past three decades, he has served as an artist-clinician with the Edwards Instrument Company, makers of custom trombones and trumpets. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Mr. Milling’s life changed in 1997 when he won the international bass trombone audition for Brazil’s flagship orchestra in New York City. As an expat, he now celebrates 25 years of residency and musical activities in Brazil. He has recorded for Argo, BMG, and Decca labels, appeared on Maryland Public Television with the Baltimore Symphony, a European Television promotional with The Philadelphia Orchestra where he’s performed on numerous occasions as an official member of the substitute roster, and frequently appears on TV Cultura in Brazil.

Mr. Milling attended Peabody Conservatory’s Preparatory School and Baltimore School for the Arts. During his teenage years, he became the youngest appointed musician to the former Chesapeake Brass Quintet and the Louis Hamlin Baltimore Big Band and was a prize winner for the Baltimore Symphony’s youth solo competition. At age 13, he embarked on his first international tour as a bass trombonist with the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra, traveling to Asia.

Mr. Milling joined the student body of Curtis in 1986 as a student of Glenn Dodson (Trombone ’53). After receiving his bachelor’s degree at Curtis in 1990, he did post-graduate studies at the Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University. He has held bass trombone positions in the former Pennsylvania Opera Theater Orchestra, the former Bridgeton Symphony (New Jersey), Naples Philharmonic (Florida), performed as a guest musician on many occasions with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and participated in concerts with the San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony (Israel), Tenerife Symphony (Spain), National Orchestra of Ecuador, and the Municipal Theater Orchestra of São Paulo.

Darrin C. Milling joins the National Theater Orchestra of Brazil as the bass trombone soloist for the world premiere of composer Ian Deterling’s Concerto No. 2 in F major, nicknamed “The Golden Retriever,” dedicated to him. Click HERE or watch the opening movement below.

Co-founder of the Low Brass Project chamber ensemble, Low Brass Project Brasil, São Paulo Brass Quintet, Duo das Américas, the Heritage Duo Ensemble, and Duo Música Viva São Paulo, he has performed in concert series throughout the United States, China, Europe, and Latin America. One of his more notable collaborations is with the elite trombone ensemble known as Posaune Decouple, founded by Glenn Dodson (Mr. Milling’s teacher at Curtis) and comprised of trombonists from The Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and other internationally renowned ensembles. In 2014, he received the Cultural Merit Award and the prestigious title of “Comendador” from the Carlos Gomes Brazilian Society of Arts, Culture, and Education.

As an educator and instructor, Mr. Milling has served on the faculty of Wilkes University and has presented masterclasses at Tanglewood Music Center, Conservatório de Tatuí (Brazil), Peabody Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, New England Conservatory, Lynn University School of Music in Florida, Mannes School of Music, and has taught lessons as a guest at his alma mater at Curtis. He served on the executive committee of the Curtis Institute of Music Alumni Affairs Council from 1994 until 2001.

Mr. Milling’s recent performance highlights have included a guest artist appearance at the Virginia Arts Festival performing with pianist Olga Kern; winner of the 2010 Cliburn International Piano Competition; and guest soloist for the world premiere of composer Ian Deterling’s Concerto No. 2 with the National Theatre Orchestra in Brasília, Brazil, conducted by Claudio Cohen. He was recently a guest artist on Luzerne Chamber Music Festival series, performing with pianist Toby Blumenthal, served as a guest artist for the premiere of Invenções Brasileiras No. 1 by Brazilian composer Juliana Ripke and “Across Continents” by African-American composer Trent Johnson, in Goiânia, Brazil, and premiered Mr. Johnson’s The Tie That Binds for bass trombone with the Greater Miami Youth Orchestra. 

Learn more about Darrin C. Milling HERE.

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

Photo Credits: 1.) Courtesy of Edwards Instrument Co; Erica Viggiani Bicudo. 2, 5, & 6.) Courtesy of Darrin C. Milling’s official Facebook page. Sixth image with pianist Olga Kern at the Virginia Arts Festival, May 2023. 3.) Mr. Milling with his wife, violinist Svetlana Tereshkova, at CIEE in Brazil, October 2023; courtesy of the Low Brass Project’s Facebook page. 4. Photo by Erica Viggiani Bicudo.

Celebrating Native American Heritage: Raven Chacon

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As Curtis continues its celebration of Native American History Month, we highlight Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon, one of the six extraordinary composers whose works are featured in Ensemble 20/21’s sold-out November 18 concert, “Music of the Earth.”

Born in 1977 in Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation, Arizona, award-winning Diné composer and artist Raven Chacon studied at the University of New Mexico (BA, 2001) and the California Institute of the Arts (MFA, 2004). A former member of the interdisciplinary art collective Postcommodity (from 2009 to 2018), the 2023 MacArthur Fellow is an internationally renowned solo performer of experimental noise music and a remarkable visual artist whose chamber music compositions and site-specific opera Sweet Land, with fellow composer Du Yun—exploring the history and the American myth of Manifest Destiny—have been met with widespread acclaim.

Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Music—the first Native American in the award’s 105-year-history—for his epic work Voiceless Mass, scored for pipe organ, chamber orchestra, and sine tones, Chacon’s work has been exhibited, performed, or been presented at venues such as the Kennedy Center, the 2022 Whitney Biennial, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, and the Borealis Festival, Bergen, Norway. His work is praised for exploring “relationships among sound, space, and people…[as he breaks] open musical traditions and activates spaces of performance where the histories of the lands the United States has encroached upon can be contemplated, questioned, and reimagined.” In addition to his own musical and artistic endeavors, since 2004, Chacon has mentored more than three hundred Native high school composers in writing new string quartets for the Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP).

Visit Raven Chacon’s official website.

This month, Ensemble 20/21 is excited to feature Raven Chacon’s 2016 composition, The Journey of the Horizontal People, which was originally commissioned for the Kronos Quartet’s 50 For The Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire project.

The Journey of the Horizontal People, Composer Notes

“The Journey of the Horizontal People is a future creation story telling of a group of people traveling from west to east across the written page, contrary to the movement of the sun but involuntarily and unconsciously allegiant to the trappings of time. With their bows, these wanderers sought out others like them, knowing that they could survive by finding these other clans who resided in the east, others who shared their linear cosmologies. It is told that throughout the journey, in their own passage of time, this group became the very people they were seeking.” –Raven Chacon

 

Ensemble 20/21 presents “Music of the Earth,” this Saturday, November 18, 2023, at 7:30 p.m., in Gould Rehearsal Hall at the Curtis Institute of Music. The eclectic program features selections that celebrate the sights and sounds of the natural world, with works by Raven Chacon, John Luther Adams, Allison Loggins-Hull, Gabriella Smith (’13), Gulli Björnsson, and Luciano Berio. This sold-out concert features the talents of Curtis’s extraordinarily gifted musicians under the batons of mezzo-soprano Micah Gleason, the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow, who will be conducting and singing Berio’s Folk Songs from the podium.

You may join the waitlist should seats become available at Curtis.edu.

Photo Credits: 1.) Portrait of Raven Chacon; Adam Conte/Courtesy of the artist and NPR. 2.) Image courtesy of John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. 3.) Raven Chacon accepts the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Music from Columbia University President Lee Bollinger; Eileen Barroso/Columbia University.