This Friday, May 12, GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Osmo Vänskä is teaming up with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra for the world premiere of composer Dai Wei‘s Awakening Lion as part of the orchestra’s highly-anticipated return to Longwood Gardens. This performance kicks off the school’s first-ever West Coast tour of the United States, May 12–22, 2023. Further information and tickets can be found HERE.
The Curtis Symphony Orchestra’s performance at Longwood Gardens marks the first time in 89 years that the full ensemble has performed at the historic gardens. The relationship between Curtis and Longwood predates the school’s first performance at the gardens in April 1934, when the Curtis Symphony Orchestra accompanied the Chester County Choral Society in a presentation of Gioachino Rossini’s Stabat Mater.
This partnership recommenced in 2004. It was followed by the annual Curtis student recitals, which began in 2010. Among many Curtis–Longwood connections, alumnus Samuel Barber (Composition ’34) composed his first piece for organ in 1925 at age 25 and dedicated it to Longwood founder Pierre S. du Pont. In 1956, organist Clarence Snyder (’42) took over for long-time Longwood organist Firmin Swinnen upon his retirement and remained at Longwood until 1978.
On May 18, 1941, The Philadelphia Orchestra performed at Longwood. From the early part of the twentieth century to today, there have been close ties between The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Curtis Institute of Music. From Curtis’s founding in 1924, principal musicians in The Philadelphia Orchestra served on the Curtis faculty, and Curtis graduates often went on to play in the orchestra. At the concert in May 1941 at Longwood, attended by Mr. du Pont, several Curtis faculty and alumni would have performed on stage in their roles as principals with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
These musicians include principal oboist Marcel Tabuteau, considered to be the founder of the American School of oboe playing, who also served on the Curtis faculty; principal flutist and longtime Curtis faculty member William Kincaid, considered to be a founder of the American school of flute playing; and principal harpist Edna Phillips (Harp ’31), the first woman to hold a principal position in a major symphony orchestra. They were also joined by longtime Curtis faculty members Mason Jones (Horn ’38) and principal bassoonist Sol Schoenbach.
In another interesting Curtis/Longwood connection, piano prodigy Mary Binney Montgomery (’28), also an accomplished actress and dancer, became a founder of the Montgomery Ballet, a dance troupe that often performed at the gardens in the late 1930s and early ’40s. In various archival materials and a program from the era, Curtis founder Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist (1876–1970) was listed as a patroness of the Montgomery Ballet. Ms. Zimbalist lived nearby in Philadelphia and supported Ms. Montgomery’s dance company and cultural organizations throughout the region.
Today, Alan Morrison (Organ ’93), Haas Charitable Trust Chair in Organ Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, co-leads Longwood’s Organ Academy along with Longwood Gardens Principal Organist Peter Richard Conte. Composed of 10,010 pipes divided into 146 ranks, the Longwood Organ is the largest Aeolian organ ever constructed in a residential setting. The Gardens are well known for their collection of Aeolian organ rolls, many of which were donated by the Curtis Institute of Music. Although no definitive list exists either at Longwood or Curtis of which specific rolls were donated, the two organizations are bound by and share a love of organ music and performance.
In recent years, Curtis graduate Joshua Stafford (Organ ’10) took the Pierre S. du Pont First Prize in the 2016 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, while Bryan Anderson (Organ ’15) took the Firmin Swinnen Second Prize in 2019 and in June will compete in the 2023 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition.
The Curtis Symphony Orchestra’s spring performance for Philadelphia-area audiences at Longwood amplifies this ongoing partnership, and deepens the local, national, and international performance, education, and community-driven efforts of both institutions.
Archival content courtesy of Kristina Wilson, archives manager of Longwood Gardens and former archivist at Curtis.
For further information about the longtime relationship between Longwood and Curtis, read Longwood Gardens Communications Manager Katie Mobley’s blog post, “A Beautiful Relationship, a Groundbreaking Performance.”
CURTIS ON TOUR
Curtis Symphony Orchestra West Coast Tour 2023
May 12–22, 2023
Curtis Symphony Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, conductor
Yefim Bronfman (’77), piano
Janice Carissa (’22), piano
Learn more HERE.
KENNETT SQUARE, PA
Friday, May 12, 2023, at 7 p.m.
Longwood Gardens (Outdoors)
Curtis Symphony Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, conductor
Janice Carissa (’22), piano
- Dai Wei: Awakening Lion
- Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Sz. 95
- Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
Presented by Longwood Gardens. For tickets and more information, visit www.longwoodgardens.org.
Photo credits: Photos of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra by David DeBalko. Portrait of Dai Wei by Lingyuan Zhao. Photos of Samuel Barber, Edna Phillips and Mason Jones courtesy of the Curtis Library and Archives. Photo of Clarence Snyder playing the Longwood Organ in the Ballroom, July 1956; courtesy of the Longwood Gardens archives. Photo credit is Gottlieb Hampfler. Photo of piano prodigy and dancer Mary Binney Montgomery courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Photo of Alan Morrison by Nichole MCH Photography. Photo of Joshua Stafford courtesy of Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists. Photo of Bryan Anderson courtesy of artist’s website.
Award-winning composer Alyssa Weinberg (Composition ’16) was recently interviewed for I Care If You Listen. Acclaimed for compositions that are “quite literally stunning” by the Chicago Tribune, the Curtis alumna, educator, and founding director of the Composer Institute at the Lake George Music Festival is fascinated with perception and playing with form, subverting audience expectations to create singular works that often feature surreal scenarios. A dedicated educator, Ms. Weinberg currently teaches at Peabody Conservatory, Mannes School of Music, and Juilliard Pre-College.
Award-winning composer and Curtis alumna
The prospect of making music in this floral utopia is truly beyond my wildest imaginings.
The acoustics of open-air environments present an intriguing area of inquiry that I am eager to explore. Truthfully, as unpredictable as nature can be, the prospect of thunderstorms and lightning strikes mid-performance would intensify the dramatic writing of Bartók’s Second Piano Concerto.