The Third Movement: Gary Graffman as Curtis Director
After his graduation from Curtis in 1946, Gary Graffman went on to enjoy a long and celebrated career as a concert pianist, performing with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. Yet, despite great successes, vast distances, and intervening years, Graffman never fully lost sight of his alma mater. Thus, years later, when Curtis once again beckoned to its former student, a connection was renewed that resulted in both a lengthy and progressive directorship, and, at 38 years, one of the longest faculty tenures in the school’s history.
When Gary Graffman won the coveted Leventritt Prize in 1949, his career as an international concert pianist took off almost overnight. However, despite years of hectic travel and a demanding performance schedule, his ties to Curtis remained intact. Most notably, he maintained a close relationship with piano faculty member Rudolf Serkin, and many summers found the two men at the Marlboro Music Festival* in Vermont collaborating, performing, and teaching together. Some years later, during Serkin’s tenure as Curtis’s director, he invited Graffman to play a recital at the school’s 50th anniversary. Upon hearing that Graffman’s Curtis performance would be just a few days after one in New York, Serkin replied, “That’s wonderful! Your Carnegie concert will be a perfect tryout for Curtis!” Now while to an outsider that comment may seem lighthearted, Serkin was being completely serious. Graffman later admitted that, despite the Carnegie performance, he nevertheless experienced substantial nervousness upon playing for the Curtis audience.
Fortunately, Graffman was eventually able to overcome his Curtis-induced nerves and accepted a position on the piano faculty in 1980. His decision to turn to teaching, precipitated by an injury to his right hand that rendered him unable to play the two-handed literature, marked not the end of his career but rather the start of an unexpected new chapter. For, after serving on the piano faculty for six years, he was named Curtis’s new director in 1986, adding President to his title in 1995.
Over the next 20 years, Graffman placed an indelible stamp on the Institute both physically and ideologically. Whether it was extensive campus renovations, inviting world class conductors and musicians to work with students, or establishing a reciprocal educational arrangement with the University of Pennsylvania, Graffman actively oversaw, and sought to improve, all facets of the Curtis student experience. However, despite his forward thinking mentality, Graffman yet remained an adherent to the more traditional view of Curtis. In an NPR interview given just before his departure as Curtis’s head in 2006, Graffman offered his view of the school’s perceived elitism: “In my dictionary, elite means the best. If you’re going to have your appendix out, you want an elite doctor doing it. I know it’s a maligned word these days, but yes, it’s an elite school, and I hope it will continue to be so.”
Gary Graffman has been a part of the Curtis community for 83 years. He has seen the school through the lens of a student, teacher, administrator, and mentor, giving him unmatched insight into what makes it tick. However, it was perhaps his time as director that brought his most marked contribution as he moved Curtis away from insularity towards engagement, creating a more modern music conservatory delicately balanced with Curtis’s storied past. Graffman himself perhaps put it best when, during that same NPR interview, he was asked to articulate a one-sentence basic philosophy for Curtis:
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
*Founded by Serkin and his father-in-law Adolph Busch in 1951
Kristina Wilson / archivist / Curtis Archives
For more information on Curtis history, visit the Curtis Archives.