Yannick Nézet-Séguin to Oversee Expanded Program as Head of Conducting
Acclaimed Conductor James Ross (’89) Appointed as Director of Orchestral Studies
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—April 17, 2024—The Curtis Institute of Music is thrilled to announce that it will expand the scope of the school’s conducting program, creating a training program designed to provide the most promising young conductors with one-of-a-kind conducting mentorship in opera and symphonic repertoire. Renowned conducting pedagogue James Ross (’89), who has helped guide Curtis students in the art of orchestral playing and conducting for the last two school years, will join the faculty as Director of Orchestral Studies, starting in the 2024–25 school year.
As part of this appointment, celebrated conductor and current Curtis faculty member Yannick Nézet-Séguin will become the school’s Head of Conducting. Mr. Nézet-Séguin will oversee the full range of the school’s newly expanded conducting program and work individually with the conducting fellows in operatic and symphonic repertoire. Curtis’s enhanced conducting program will include a thoughtful emphasis on the art of operatic conducting, as well as orchestral—a rarity among conservatory conducting programs—and is patterned on Mr. Nézet-Séguin’s own singular career as music and artistic director of The Philadelphia Orchestra and music director of the Metropolitan Opera. Curtis’s program aspires to develop conductors with a similar dexterity in both areas, and provide them with the skills, experience, and confidence to build rich and varied careers.
In addition to receiving coaching specifically geared to opera conducting from Mr. Nézet-Séguin, Curtis’s conducting fellows will gain crucial experience in working with the school’s acclaimed voice and opera department under the guidance of Miloš Repický, the Hirsig Family Chair in Vocal Studies and principal opera coach.
“The expansion of Curtis’s conducting program is exciting for the future of leadership in our field,” says Mr. Nézet-Séguin. “The idea that Curtis will help create conductors who are equally at home in the worlds of both operatic and orchestral conducting—as I am—is unique in this country. These two worlds, so different in format, are woven together by the common acts of singing, shaping, and reacting,” he continues.
Curtis also will increase the number of conducting fellows from two to three, and lengthen the duration of the program from two to three years. All of these changes will be in place at the start of the 2024–25 academic year—Curtis’s recently-announced centennial, when the school celebrates 100 years of training the most exceptional musicians.
“Curtis is continually looking for ways to provide our students with the skills and experience to be at the forefront of classical music for years to come.” Says Roberto Díaz, president and CEO of Curtis. “By reimagining what conducting training looks like, we hope to inspire and empower our artists to shape not only their careers, but our art form,” he continues.
“Curtis has been a vital influence in my life since 1987 when I first entered the conducting program fresh from an active career as a horn player. It has been a lifelong source of friendships, colleagues, decent upbeats, and essential thinking behind good music-making,” says Mr. Ross. “What a joy for me now to return to this special world at Rittenhouse Square and to be asked to shape a next generation of inventive musicians in tandem with Yannick Nézet-Séguin as we explore this art form we love, what it means to our world today and tomorrow, and how we can make music truly come alive for everyone,” he continues.
Mr. Ross is well known for his expertise in orchestral training: he is the founding orchestra director of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, where he oversees all artistic and educational activities during the orchestra’s annual summer residency and served as professor at the University of Maryland from 2001 to 2017. For the last two academic years, Mr. Ross has been helping the Curtis orchestra establish strong roots together and encouraging their artistry to grow and flourish. For three weeks this past September, Mr. Ross worked with Curtis’s students developing trust in their own ability to learn music quickly and meaningfully—skills they will rely on their entire careers. In ample demand as a conductor in his own right, Mr. Ross will maintain his position as music director of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra.
For the last century, Curtis’s conducting graduates—which include Teddy Abrams (’08), Leonard Bernstein (’41), Alan Gilbert (’92), Miguel Harth-Bedoya (’91), Sarah Hicks (’99), Sarah Ioannides (’98), Paavo Järvi (’88), Vinay Parameswaran (’13), Robert Spano (’85), Michael Stern (’86), Kensho Watanabe (’13), and Barbara Yahr (’86)—have changed the classical music landscape. With this expanded conducting program, Curtis hopes to empower its graduates to further shape the direction of the orchestral and opera fields.
Curtis Institute of Music is grateful to Rita and the late Gustave Hauser, whose visionary generosity first established the Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser Chair in Conducting Studies, which supports appearances by Curtis Symphony Orchestra guest conductors each year. Rita Hauser’s commitment to the future of conducting then established the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellowships in 2013, held by Curtis’s conducting fellows. An investment from Mrs. Hauser in 2024 is underwriting the Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellowship program expansion, which begins in the 2024–25 academic year.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is music and artistic director of The Philadelphia Orchestra, music director of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, and in September 2018, began his tenure as music director of the Metropolitan Opera. Widely recognized for his musicianship, dedication, and charisma, Mr. Nézet-Séguin has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. His highly collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, boundless enthusiasm, and fresh approach to programming have been heralded by audiences and critics alike.
Mr. Nézet-Séguin has appeared with most of the world’s leading orchestras. He enjoys close collaborations with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He is honorary conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic after serving as its music director from 2008 to 2018; and was principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014. He has appeared repeatedly at the BBC Proms and many European and North American festivals, among them Edinburgh, Grafenegg, Lanaudière, Lucerne, Mostly Mozart, Salzburg, Saratoga, and Vail. He has conducted annually at the Metropolitan Opera since 2009, and has led productions at Teatro alla Scala in Milan; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London; Netherlands Opera; and the Vienna State Opera. He records for Deutsche Grammophon.
A native of Montreal, Mr. Nézet-Séguin studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at the Conservatoire de music du Québec. He continued his studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini, and also studied choral conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. His honors include Musical America’s Artist of the Year (2016), the Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Canada’s National Arts Centre Award, and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres du Québec. He holds honorary doctorates from multiple institutions, including the University of Québec in Montreal, Westminster Choir College, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he has served on the faculty as mentor conductor since 2013.
James Ross is a native of Boston, an improviser, a horn-blower, a dogged questioner of concert rituals, a man who likes to move, a phrase-shaper, and a firm believer in the humanizing impact of classical music on the lives of those it touches. Fueled by these traits, Mr. Ross is in his sixth season as music director of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra. He has led the National Youth Orchestra of the USA as orchestra director since its founding in 2013 and taught conducting at the Juilliard School since 2011 and at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia since 2022. He served as professor and director of orchestral activities at the University of Maryland for 16 years and was also music director of the Orquesta Simfònica del Vallès in Barcelona, Spain. Mr. Ross’s principal conducting teachers were Kurt Masur, Otto-Werner Mueller, Seiji Ozawa, and Leonard Bernstein. He was artistic director of the National Orchestral Institute (NOI) at the University of Maryland from 2002 to 2012 where his leadership helped served as an impetus for change in the orchestral landscape of our country.
Mr. Ross is internationally recognized for his work advancing the future of orchestras through cross-genre collaborations especially with choreographer and MacArthur Fellow Liz Lerman, polymath designer-director Doug Fitch, and video artist Tim McLoraine. In 2019, he led inaugural courses of the Cuban American Youth Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s RCO Young. He wakes up every day imagining a creative re-boot for classical music. He loves art that is new no matter when it was written. He loves concerts that tell an inner story. And he loves helping conductors and orchestras find their own singular communal voices.
About the Curtis Institute of Music
At Curtis, the world’s most talented young musicians develop into exceptional artists, creators, and innovators. With a tuition-free foundation, Curtis is a unique environment for teaching and learning. A small school by design, students realize their artistic potential through intensive, individualized study with the most renowned, sought-after faculty. Animated by a learn-by-doing philosophy, Curtis students share their music with audiences through more than 100 performances each year, including solo and chamber recitals, orchestral concerts, and opera—all free or at an affordable cost—offering audiences unique opportunities to participate in pivotal moments in these young musicians’ careers. Curtis students experience a close connection to the greatest artists and organizations in classical music, and innovative initiatives that integrate new technologies and encourage entrepreneurship—all within a historic campus in the heart of culturally rich Philadelphia. In this diverse, collaborative community, Curtis’s extraordinary artists challenge, support, and inspire one another—continuing an unparalleled 100-year legacy of musicians who have led, and will lead, classical music into a thriving, equitable, and multidimensional future. Learn more at Curtis.edu.
Photo of Micah Gleason, Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow, by David DeBalko. Photo of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra by David DeBalko. Photo of Benoit Gauthier, Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow, by Margo Reed. Portrait of James Ross by P.J. Barbour. Archival photo of Leonard Bernstein (’41) conducting the Curtis Symphony Orchestra celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Curtis Institute of Music by Neil Benson.
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Throughout the 2024–25 season, Great to Groundbreaking, Curtis students—some of the finest young musicians in the world—move from the classroom to the stage, sharing their extraordinary passion for classical music through thrilling performances alongside internationally renowned guest artists, faculty, and alumni. The centennial season combines beloved repertoire favorites—such as Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia; Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1; Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14; Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8; Claude Debussy’s La mer; and Leonard Bernstein’s No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety,” and comic operetta, Candide—with breathtaking new works—including the East Coast premiere of The Comet / Poppea at Philadelphia’s 23rd Street Armory, featuring composer George Lewis’ setting of W.E.B. Du Bois’ proto-Afrofuturist science fiction short story, The Comet, juxtaposed with Claudio Monteverdi’s hot-blooded political thriller, L’incoronazione di Poppea. The season also features an array of new compositions, world premieres, and much more. Subscription tickets are available April 2 at 
Hailed as “both a conservatory and a buzzword…known for taking the best music students in the world” (Washington Post), Curtis is excited to welcome its 160-member student body of exceptionally gifted young musicians to the school this fall as they hone their impressive artistic talents. In this unique and inclusive environment, they are nurtured by a celebrated faculty, supported by a merit-based, tuition-free policy, and inspired by the school’s distinctive learn-by-doing approach.
October 27: In the opening concert of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra series, eminent Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and GRAMMY Award-winning ensemble Time For Three in a concert of towering works that celebrate the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit in the face of great adversity, and defy genre with Jean Sibelius’ patriotic tone poem Finlandia, Jennifer Higdon’s (’88) bluegrass-tinged Concerto 4-3, and Sergei Prokofiev’s heroic Symphony No. 5.
December 13: The continues with an electrifying performance by prizewinning violinist Ray Chen (’10) under the baton of acclaimed composer, pianist, and clarinetist Teddy Abrams (Conducting ’08). The program features composer and producer TJ Cole’s (’17) moving work Death of a Poet, and legendary composer George Walker’s (Piano and Composition ’45) landmark 1996 Pulitzer Prize-winning song cycle for vocal soloist and orchestra, Lilacs. Mr. Chen performs Samuel Barber’s (’34) monumental Violin Concerto, and the concert concludes with Aaron Copland’s ambitious, patriotic Symphony No. 3.
November 1–3: Curtis Opera Theatre launches its historic 2024–25 series with the highly anticipated East Coast premiere of The Comet / Poppea, featuring MacArthur Award-winning composer George Lewis’ and librettist Douglas Kearney’s wildly inventive operatic setting of Pan-Africanist civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois’ 1920 science fiction short story, The Comet, juxtaposed with Claudio Monteverdi’s hot-blooded political thriller, L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea) from 1643. Presented at Philadelphia’s historic 23rd Street Armory on a turntable stage divided in two halves, these worlds unfold simultaneously, with the stage’s rotation creating a visual and sonic spiral for audiences—inviting associations, dissociations, collisions, and confluences. Directed and conceived by fellow MacArthur-winner Yuval Sharon, this innovative co-production features a stellar cast of Curtis singers led by conductor Marc Lowenstein, founding music director of The Industry in Los Angeles. Developed over six years, The Comet / Poppea is realized through a landmark partnership among organizations across the United States, produced by Anthony Roth Costanzo and Cath Brittan, The Industry, AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), and Curtis Institute of Music. Performed in English and Italian with English supertitles.
April 11, 13: This historic Curtis Opera Theatre series closes with Leonard Bernstein’s (Conducting ’41) 20th-century operetta, Candide at the Forrest Theatre, one of America’s oldest theaters. Filled with sparkling wit, soaring melodies, and globe-trotting grandeur, this bitingly clever adaptation of Voltaire’s philosophical French novella is an absurdist romp across “the best of all possible worlds.” Led by internationally renowned conductor David Charles Abell and visionary theater and opera director Emma Griffin, this darkly satirical tale of youthful innocence and human folly in war-torn times of crisis is as relevant today as it was when it was first published in 1759. Performed in English with English supertitles.
October 12: The first concert of the Curtis New Music Ensemble series celebrates this year’s composer in residence with a “Portrait of Gabriela Ortiz,” featuring works by the Latin GRAMMY-nominated composer and educator. One of Mexico’s most prominent composers, with an international career that includes recent commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic to the BBC Scottish Symphony and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Ms. Ortiz’s music incorporates seemingly disparate musical worlds, from traditional and popular idioms to avant-garde techniques and multimedia works.
October 25: The 2024–25 Curtis Presents series kicks off with another “masterly nuanced performance” (Wall Street Journal) from the Dover Quartet, the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence, featuring Joel Link (String Quartet ’14, Violin ’11), and Bryan Lee (String Quartet ’14, Violin ’11), violist Julianne Lee (Violin ’05), and Camden Shaw (String Quartet ’14, Cello ’11, ’10). This riveting program features Jessie Montgomery’s folk music-inspired Strum; Pura Fé’s Rattle Song, arranged by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate; a new, Curtis-led co-commissioned work for string quartet composed by Mr. Tate; and Antonin Dvořák’s String Quartet in F major, Op. 96 (“American”). Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine, the two-time GRAMMY-nominated ensemble is one of the world’s most in-demand chamber ensembles. The prize-winning quartet was formed at Curtis in 2008, and its name pays tribute to the composition Dover Beach by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber.
Noah Bendix-Balgley, first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic; Shanshan Yao (Violin ’08), concert violinist and former member of the Pittsburgh Symphony and New York Philharmonic; Teng Li (Viola ’05), principal violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and Nathan Vickery (Cello ’13), cellist in the New York Philharmonic. This phenomenal “Dream Quartet” continues to excite audiences with its distinctive sound and unanimity of expression.
The afternoon opens with Te Deum, an exciting, newly commissioned work by James Ra (’04). Praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “a composer to watch,” Mr. Ra’s compositions have been described as “coursing with adrenaline-pumping energy” (Star Ledger). Written during the COVID-19 pandemic and based on the Latin hymn, Te Deum has been described by the composer as an “introspective, deeply personal prayer and hymn of praise, thanksgiving, and awe in solitude.” Using one of his mother’s favorite hymns, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” as the vessel through which all of the music emerges, this powerful orchestral work is “an ode to the innocence, simplicity, and sincerity of a time lost.”
Speaking on the guitar concerto, Mackey shared: “The classical guitar is the most ridiculously soft instrument. The best place to listen to the classical guitar is playing it, so we need to amplify that detail. With the third movement of Aluminum Flowers, the starting point was my appreciation of the sound of Carlos Santana and his singing tone. There’s this one tune, in particular, Samba Pa’ Ti. In Aluminum Flowers, the [Santana-esque tune] is amplified and distorted lyrically. The first movement is classical guitar. The second movement has this delay pedal that the guitarist has to keep up with. The fourth movement uses a crazy [prepared] guitar that I invented!”
The afternoon concludes with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s impassioned, intensely personal Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 (“Pathétique”). Composed in the final year of his life—in the ever-rippling wake of a traumatic marriage years earlier, as he continued to grapple with depression, artistic self-doubt, and societal pressures regarding his sexual orientation—this turbulent work captures the Russian Romantic composer’s psychological turmoil and disillusionment with life right before his physical health began to suddenly decline. Subtitled “Patetitčeskaja,” or “passionate” in English, at the suggestion of his brother Modest and dedicated to his nephew Bob Davydov, the symphony premiered in St. Peterburg on October 28, 1893, only nine days before Tchaikovsky’s mysterious death at age 53. In numerous letter correspondences, he deemed it “the best thing I ever composed or shall compose,” an emotional symphony enrobed in shadows—brooding, euphoric, tense, and frighteningly explosive—yet conceived and delivered to the world without the knowledge that his death would follow mere days after he conducted its first performance. The invisible force of Fate that had relentlessly pursued his Fourth and Fifth symphonies is met head-on here in his Sixth, with an unexpectedly solemn finale that defies nineteenth-century conventions and forgoes orchestral pyrotechnics as the steady heartbeat in the low double basses slows, and the audience is left with nothing but silence.
Robert Spano (Conducting ’85)—conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher—is known worldwide for the intensity of his artistry and distinctive communicative abilities, creating a sense of inclusion and warmth among musicians and audiences that is unique among American orchestras. After twenty seasons as music director, he continues his association with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as music director laureate. An avid mentor to rising artists, he is responsible for nurturing the careers of numerous celebrated composers, conductors, and performers. As music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2011, he oversees the programming of more than 300 events and educational programs for 630 students and young performers. Principal guest conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since 2019, Spano began his tenure as music director in August 2022, and will continue there through the 2027–28 season. He is the tenth music director in the orchestra’s history, which was founded in 1912. In February 2024, Spano was appointed music director of the Washington National Opera, beginning in the 2025–26 season, for a three-year term; he is currently the WNO’s music director designate.
James Ra’s music has been described as “coursing with adrenaline-pumping energy.” In Japan, when the Curtis Chamber Orchestra took his Concerto Grosso No. 1 on tour, they wrote: “the Concerto Grosso No. 1 had a tremendous impact on the audience. Its themes of love, life, and death were dramatically expressed.” This work subsequently aired on National Public Radio. The Philadelphia Inquirer has called him “a composer to watch.”
Through her impeccable musicianship, compelling stage presence, and commitment to commissioning and performing new musical works, JIJI has solidified her reputation as a top 21st century guitarist. In 2021, The Washington Post selected JIJI as “one of the 21 composers/performers who sound like tomorrow,” and The Kansas City Star recently described her as “a graceful and nuanced player.” In recent seasons, JIJI has presented solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall; Lincoln Center; 92nd Street Y; Caramoor; Green Music Center; and the National Art Gallery, among other distinguished venues. Her performances have been featured on PBS (On Stage at Curtis), NPR’s From the Top, WHYY-TV, FOX 4-TV, Munchies (the Vice Channel), The Not So Late Show (Channel 6, Kansas), and Hong Kong broadcast station RTHK’s The Works. In 2016, she became the first guitarist in 30 years to secure first prize in the Concert Artists Guild Competition.