Big spring for Curtis Institute in NY, Philly, D.C., and abroad
The virtues of the Curtis Institute of Music will resonate in some of the world’s great concert halls this spring, with high-profile events from the U.S. East Coast to Latin America to South Korea. In March, the Curtis Chamber Orchestra will tour with violinists Jaime Laredo (Curtis ’59) and Jennifer Koh (Curtis ’02) playing an exciting program that features double concertos by Bach and Philip Glass in Philadelphia (Kimmel Center, March 11), New York (Miller Theatre, March 13) and Washington, D.C. (Kennedy Center, March 14); the Miller Theatre performance will include the New York premiere of Curtis faculty member David Ludwig’s Seasons Lost. Also in March, the Curtis Opera Theatre, in an innovative cooperative venture with the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and Opera Philadelphia, will present a production of Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera Owen Wingrave to mark the centenary of the composer’s birth (Kimmel Center, March 13-17). Then, in April and May, Curtis On Tour visits Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, California and South Korea.
As part of Curtis On Tour’s East Coast performances in March, the Curtis Chamber Orchestra will be performing a program called “Two x Four” that presents four double concertos with violinists Jaime Laredo and Jennifer Koh, led by Curtis student conductor Vinay Parameswaran. The program includes J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, a work that Laredo and Koh first performed together in student-teacher concerts at Curtis. They will also perform Philip Glass’s Echorus: Concerto for Two Violins, as well as two newly commissioned works: Prince of Clouds by Anna Clyne and Seasons Lost by David Ludwig (Curtis ’01), a piece inspired by global climate change. The program will conclude with the Curtis Chamber Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, conducted by Laredo.
Reflecting on his work Seasons Lost, composer and Gie and Lisa Liem Artistic Chair of Performance Studies at Curtis David Ludwig says:
“I remember from my childhood growing up on the East Coast that the four seasons were once distinct, but that [sharp distinction] is now lost. The reality of global climate change is important for me to respond to, and so I wrote Seasons Lost to add my voice to the discussion. The music begins in winter, in distant unisons of cold days when the light is icy blue and the air stings when it hits bare skin. The second movement is a duet between violin soloists, an intertwining of themes and melodies like the growing greenery of spring. The third movement evokes a hot summer in trios of solo players set on a backdrop of hazy, smoky nights and smoldering bonfires. Quartets play in the last movement of fall to create the sonic image of howling winds in autumn that rustle the trees and shake their leaves to the ground.”
About the “Two x Four” program overall, Koh says: “I created this project as a musical means to honor our teachers, who are our thread to a long performance tradition.” Speaking of Koh, Strad magazine calls the talented Curtis graduate “a risk-taking, high-octane player of the kind who grabs the listener by the ears and refuses to let go. Unlike so many players of this temperament, however, she supports her mesmerizing flights of fancy with a beguilingly silvery tone, fabulous technique and dead-center intonation.”
Owen Wingrave
Helping to celebrate the centenary of Britten’s birth, Curtis Opera Theatre is teaming with Opera Philadelphia and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts for three performances of Britten’s chamber opera Owen Wingrave on March 13, 15 and 17. Based on a Henry James story about a committed pacifist born into a renowned military family, the opera was originally composed for television and premiered on the BBC in 1971. Britten – a dedicated pacifist – reportedly said the work was a response to the Vietnam War. The gifted young voices of the Curtis Opera Theatre star in this production, along with singers of the Philadelphia Boys Choir.
The Curtis Opera Theatre, under the artistic direction of Mikael Eliasen, works with established professional directors and designers to create fresh interpretations of standard repertoire and contemporary works. All of Curtis’s 25 voice and opera students are cast repeatedly each season, receiving a rare level of performance experience. As a result, Curtis graduates have sung with opera companies all over the world, including La Scala, Covent Garden, the Vienna Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.
More Curtis On Tour
In April and May, Curtis On Tour travels to Latin America for the first time with an ensemble including Curtis president and violist Roberto Díaz, guitar faculty member Jason Vieaux, violinist Soovin Kim (Curtis ’99), and cello student John-Henry Crawford. They perform a program of Paganini, Piazzolla and more on April 24 in San José, Costa Rica; on April 26 in Morelia, Mexico; and on April 29 and April 30 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. On May 12 (University of California-Davis) and on May 14 (Seoul, South Korea), Curtis On Tour offers performances of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Sextet (including Díaz on viola) and Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire (featuring soprano Anna Davidson, a student in the Curtis Vocal Studies Department).
Curtis On Tour presents tomorrow’s leading musicians performing alongside celebrated Curtis faculty and alumni – with the concerts marked by, in the words of Díaz, “a mix of youthful exuberance and seasoned artistry.”
Curtis Institute of Music
One of the world’s leading conservatories, the Curtis Institute of Music educates and trains exceptionally gifted young musicians for careers as performing artists on the highest professional level. Since the school’s founding in 1924, its distinctive “learn by doing” approach has produced alumni of the highest stature, from such legends as Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein to current stars Juan Diego Flórez, Alan Gilbert, Hilary Hahn, Jennifer Higdon and Lang Lang. Curtis graduates have won Pulitzer Prizes, Guggenheim Fellowships, Grammy and Tony awards.
Grounded in a rich heritage, Curtis remains a forward-thinking institution, nurturing the 21st-century skills that allow students to invent their careers in today’s changing musical world. Curtis alumni hold principal chairs in every major American orchestra, and each season they are featured as guest soloists with the world’s leading orchestras, opera houses and chamber music series. Although hundreds of musicians apply each year, the school admits only enough students to fill the places of the previous graduating class. With an acceptance rate of 3.2 percent, Curtis is ranked as the most selective college-level institution in the United States by U.S. News and World Report (2012 edition, based on 2010–11 admissions statistics). For more information, go to www.curtis.edu.
Curtis Institute of Music: touring engagements
March 11, 8:00 p.m.
Philadelphia, PA: Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater
Bach, Glass, Clyne, Ludwig
Curtis On Tour; Curtis Chamber Orchestra; Jennifer Koh, violin; Jaime Laredo, violin/conductor; Vinay Parameswaran, conductor
March 13, 8:00 p.m.
New York, NY: Miller Theatre, Columbia University
Bach, Glass, Clyne, Ludwig
Curtis On Tour; Curtis Chamber Orchestra; Jennifer Koh, violin; Jaime Laredo, violin/conductor; Vinay Parameswaran, conductor
March 14, 7:30 p.m.
Washington, D.C.: Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater
Bach, Glass, Clyne, Ludwig
Curtis On Tour; Curtis Chamber Orchestra; Jennifer Koh, violin; Jaime Laredo, violin/conductor; Vinay Parameswaran, conductor
March 13, 7:30 p.m.
March 15, 8:00 p.m.
March 17, 2:30 p.m.
Philadelphia, PA: Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater
Britten’s Owen Wingrave
Curtis Opera Theatre; George Manahan, conductor; Daniel Fish, stage director
April 24, 7:00 p.m.
San José, Costa Rica: Centro Nacional de la Música
Kodály, Paganini, Piazzolla, Zhou
Curtis On Tour; Soovin Kim, violin; Roberto Díaz, viola; John-Henry Crawford, cello; Jason Vieaux, guitar
April 26, 7:00 p.m.
Morelia, Mexico: Conservatorio de Las Rosas
Kodály, Paganini, Piazzolla, Zhou
Curtis On Tour; Soovin Kim, violin; Roberto Díaz, viola; John-Henry Crawford, cello; Jason Vieaux, guitar
April 29-30, 9:00 p.m.
Sao Paolo, Brazil: Sala Sao Paulo
Kodály, Paganini, Piazzolla, Zhou
Curtis On Tour; Soovin Kim, violin; Roberto Díaz, viola; John-Henry Crawford, cello; Jason Vieaux, guitar
May 12, 2:00 p.m.
Davis, CA: Vanderhoef Studio Theater, University of California
Penderecki, Schoenberg
Curtis On Tour; Roberto Díaz, viola; Anna Davidson, soprano
May 14, 8:00 p.m.
Seoul, South Korea: Seoul Arts Center
Penderecki, Schoenberg
Curtis On Tour; Roberto Díaz, viola; Anna Davidson, soprano
www.curtis.edu