Philadelphia’s legendary Curtis Institute of Music, located just east of Rittenhouse Square, launched its celebration of the centenary of its 1924 founding with a recital Sunday afternoon performed in its intimate Field Concert Hall. A roster of the school’s illustrious alumni performed including the institute’s current president and CEO, Roberto Diaz (Viola Class of 1984).

The recital’s program was a sampling of works Curtis’ musicians will be performing on their annual summer tour, which gets underway in Nantucket and then continues to other vacation spots in New England, such as Cape Cod.

Diaz, the former principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he succeeded the nearly mythic Joseph de Pasquale, was joined by alums clarinetist Sara Han (2022), pianist Ying Li (2019) and soprano Sophia Hunt (2019 & 2022). They performed works by several Curtis alumni composers and conductors -- Leonard Bernstein (1941), Lukas Foss (1940), Samuel Barber (1934) and Ned Rorem (1944) – plus Franz Schubert and Max Bruch.

Bernstein was represented by his lovely Sonata for Clarinet and Piano – beautifully played by Han and Li – and “Somewhere,” from his masterpiece, “West Side Story” – sung touchingly by Hunt. Hunt, Han and Li gave a poetic reading to Schubert’s “The Shepherd on the Rock.” In selections from Bruch’s “Eight Pieces,” Opus 83, Diaz’s playing assured that he remains one of the greatest violists in the world. He was joined by Han and Li. No wonder, then, that Diaz’s tenure at the helm of the Curtis Institute of Music has been yet another of its “Golden Ages.” His success follows in the illustrious footsteps of former directors Josef Hofmann, Rudolf Serkin and Gary Graffman.

THE 2024-25 SEASON

The New York Times once observed that Philadelphia classical music lovers were among the luckiest in the country because their city was home to two of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. There’s the Philadelphia Orchestra, of course, one of the leading symphonic ensembles in the world ever since the tenure of Leopold Stokowski, which began in 1912. 

And then there’s the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. Although it offers only four full orchestral concerts throughout the traditional season, alongside performances with the Curtis Opera Theatre, those four dates in the Kimmel Center’s Marian Anderson Hall are among the most prized of the season.

The Curtis Symphony’s season opens Sunday, Oct. 27, at 3 p.m. Osmo Vanska will lead a program of Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia,” Opus 26, alumna Jennifer Higdon’s “Concerto 4-3,” and Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Opus 100. Soloists in the Higdon will be Curtis alumni “Time for Three.”

Maintaining the close ties between Curtis and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, music director of the “Fabulous Philadelphians” and Curtis faculty member, will conduct the Symphony Saturday, Nov. 23, at 3 p.m. in Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade for Orchestra, Opus 33, Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor, and Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G major, Opus 88.

Teddy Abrams (Class of 2008) will conduct TJ Cole’s “Death of the Poet,” George Walker’s (1945) “Lilacs,” the Violin Concerto of West Chester’s Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3. Soloist in the Barber will be Ray Chen (2010).

The season will come to a scintillating finale Saturday, April 26, at 3 p.m. with an appearance by Yuja Wang (2008), perhaps the most dazzling concert pianist in the world today and one of the most glamorous classical musicians since Franz Liszt or Ignace Jan Paderewski. Nezet-Seguin will conduct her in Leonard Bernstein’s “The Age of Anxiety,” The program also features Lili Boulanger’s “D’un matin de Printemps,” Maurice Ravel’s “Sheherazade” and Claude Debussy’s “La Mer.”

The Curtis Opera Theatre will present three productions this coming season. First on the roster is George Lewis’ “The Comet” and Claudio Monteverdi’s “The Coronation of Poppea” Nov. 1-3 in the 23rd Street Armory. Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” will be staged Feb. 27 through March 2, 2025, in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. Bernstein’s “Candide” brings the season to a finale April 11 & 13 at the Forrest Theater. The season also includes a series of chamber music recitals.

THE LEGACY

Since its founding in 1924 through the peerless philanthropy of Mary Louise Curtis Bok, daughter of publishing giant Cyrus Curtis, Curtis has offered the world’s highest level of classical music education. There is no tuition and Curtis offers generous support to cover living expenses for its 150-plus students. The school has propelled onto the concert stage some of today’s finest and most sought-after soloists, orchestral players and vocalists. Pianist Lang Lang and tenor Juan Diego Florez are among its most celebrated alumni.

Curtis’ composition department has made its mark not only in concert classical music but also in the world of film music. Two of Hollywood’s brightest stars studied at Curtis. Chester-born Alex North was a student at Settlement Music School, the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School before he headed out west to compose such cinematic masterpieces as the scores for “Cleopatra” and “Spartacus.” Italian-born Nino Rota was a Curtis student before he wrote the music for both “The Godfather” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

 For more information about the Curtis Institute of Music, visit curtis.edu.

 You can contact NOTEWORTHY at Michael-caruso@comcast.net.