World class musical training and performance at the Curtis

At the corner of 18th and Locust streets in Center City Philadelphia stands an imposing Romanesque building that suitably punctuates the architectural elegance of Rittenhouse Square. During the day, or sometimes in the evening, it is not uncommon to hear sounds emerge from its open windows - operatic voices climbing the scales or violins soldiering through Bach or Mozart.  

If one had wandered past these windows in the 1920s or 1930s, he or she might have heard Samuel Barber composing a piece for strings or Leonard Bernstein laboring over the piano, a few bars of future masterpieces wandering through his head.

Formerly the mansion of the Drexel Family, the building is the home of the Curtis Institute of Music. Founded in 1924 by Mary Louise Curtis Bok of the Curtis publishing family, the school has produced some of the world’s finest classical musicians. Nearly 20 percent of the principal members of the top orchestras in America are Curtis graduates. More than 60 graduates have sung with the Metropolitan Opera. Curtis alumnae have written symphonies and conducted renowned orchestras. Along with institutions such as Oberlin and Juilliard, Curtis attracts prodigious musicians who discover a vocation very early in their lives.

Yet, before they graduate and venture off to Berlin, San Francisco or even down the street to the Kimmel Center, Curtis students take the opportunity to polish their skills as performers during numerous student recitals in Field Concert Hall, a 240-seat auditorium that was once a garden and greenhouse. Ample performance opportunities are part of the school’s overall philosophy of “learning by doing.” By the time many Curtis musicians graduate, they have conducted, composed, sung and played their instruments in concert halls across the world before discriminating audiences.

Local classical music fans, however, have the special treat of getting a sneak peak before the rest of the world becomes acquainted with Curtis talent. Each week during the school year, Curtis students perform various pieces either as soloists or as part of chamber groups. The Curtis Orchestra, consisting entirely of students also performs there, while making a few visits a year to Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center and, as they did last year and will again this season, to Carnegie Hall. Curtis concerts are also regularly broadcast on WHYY TV.

For the music enthusiast who wants to see how great musicians evolve, the student recitals can be both a fine musical experience and the beginning of a sentimental attachment. What one witnesses during these free concerts is a glimpse of the future and demonstration of the total dedication of the students to their discipline.

Jennifer Rycerz, Curtis public relations manager who also has a musical education – the flute is her instrument – never stops marveling at the cumulative abilities of the student body.

“The students are extraordinary,” she says. “I can’t believe how talented they are.”    As extraordinary as they are, they face stiff competition to get into the school. More than 700 students auditioned for a spot in the class of 2007 and 44 were accepted. The total class size typically hovers around 160 students who have access to about 90 faculty members. And while most are traditional college age – 17 to 22 – about 20 percent range from ages 12 to 15.    

Once accepted, students receive full-tuition scholarships. This ensures that admissions are based entirely on artistic promise. Students vie for placement in the symphony orchestra, opera department or select programs in keyboard, composition and conducting. Keyboard and composition students are also loaned a Steinway piano for the duration of their studies. Funding for tuitions, instruments and operation of the school is still generated from the original $12 million endowment from Mary Curtis Bok. Additional sources of funding come from philanthropies, ticket sales and subscriptions to the all-student Curtis Symphony and Curtis Opera Company.

As the beginning of the school year approaches, the students return from performing in festivals in Europe or South America (these are considered vacations). They begin the routine of quickly climbing and descending the winding dark wood staircase to floors of cavernous rooms overlooking the square. They practice, sometimes alone, sometimes in the presence of an instructor, often for hours. A walk through the building on a weekday afternoon feels like both a step into the past and a kind of anticipation as overlapping strains of Beethoven or Mahler struggle to become fully realized. What is a constant is the sense of history that prevails. To be sure, there is a legacy of greatness to be preserved and an expectation that students will exceed previous achievements.

In 2006 Curtis welcomed a new president, Roberto Diaz, who spent ten years as the principal violist in the Philadelphia Orchestra. His appointment marks the continuation of a tradition to keep the school in the hands of an active musician, rather than an administrator with a musical background. Diaz was once described by Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Christophe Eschenbach as “one of the greatest viola players in the world, if not the greatest.”

At 46, Diaz brings youth and new ideas, although he is mindful of the traditions and legacy of the school. He cautions that Curtis does not “need change for change’s sake.” 

“But it does,” he says, “need to keep up with the times.”

Last year the Curtis Orchestra performed the little-known “Violin Concerto,” written by Benjamin Britten just before the outbreak of World War II. It is an expressive piece inspired by the politics of the day. The performance received raved reviews, not just for musical excellence but for the risk of resurrecting a rarely performed piece.

Undoubtedly the courage to try new things already exists, and the youth and diversity of the student body adds vibrancy and energy to the school, but Diaz wishes to build on that by strengthening certain programs and promoting increased interest and study in things like contemporary composers. Recently implemented programs include master classes for cello students in “cutting-edge” repertoire and the formation of a contemporary ensemble.

The diverse student body includes a 21-year old bassoonist from Kingwood, Texas. Harrison Hollingsworth is a senior and began his musical career as a violinist. The bassoon, which he describes as “the narrative of a piece of music,” became his main instrument by default. He wanted to play the clarinet in the school band, but the conductor needed a bassoonist.

Now Hollingsworth spends most of his time mastering his “accidental” instrument. He has performed in around the country and in Latin America. He is the winner of the Albert M. Greenfield Student Competition, which means he will perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra this season.

Effusive, articulate and pleasantly extroverted, Hollingsworth seems more like the captain of a college debate team. His enthusiasm for what he is doing is so strong it is almost intimidating. How, one wonders, can someone be so poised and so sure of his “calling” at such a young age?

Hollingsworth is a member of the Curtis Orchestra and has already performed at Carnegie Hall. In the meantime, he completes academic requirements for his degree at local universities. (He cut down his course load considerably by taking numerous AP courses in high school where, he modestly concedes, he was a “reasonably good student.”) He is also taking German at the University of Pennsylvania this semester.

“Just because,” he adds, “I want to learn German.”

And while he spends many hours practicing and rehearsing with his fellow students, Hollingsworth does not pine away for an elusive social life or the capricious pursuits of a college student.

“The life of a musician is inherently social,” he explains, “because music is social. And the Curtis does a good job of bringing students together, across disciplines and ethnicities.”    Hollingsworth does squeeze out enough free time to play the fiddle in a bluegrass band called the Wissahickon Chicken Shack and listens to virtually all kinds of music.

“There is very little I don’t like,” he says, and there is everything from classical to classic rock on his iPod. Among his favorite composers are Curtis grad Samuel Barber, Bach and Beethoven. He’s also been getting into choral music recently, as well as post-modern composers, although he disputes their approach to “music as science.”

“Music,” he declares confidently, “is about the intangible.”   

Curtis concertgoers will hear Hollingsworth with the Curtis Orchestra this season, performing pieces from Tchaikovsky to Mahler and Beethoven. Curtis alumnae frequently return to perform, conduct or hold master classes and several, including pianist Ignat Sozhenitsyn and violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi.

The opera company, which Rycerz describes as “unique among school opera programs” since “everyone gets to perform a significant role,” will perform several well-known productions, including Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Donizetti’s Elixir of Love. Most anticipated, however, is the Philadelphia premiere of Ainadamar, an opera that revisits the assassination of Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca.   

On a Thursday afternoon in one of the rehearsal rooms crowded with music stands, Maia Cabeza talks about her present studies and future as a musician. At just 15, she has already played violin with several orchestras. The daughter of musicians from Argentina, she picked up the violin at age 4. At 13 she began to study at Curtis. She now takes high school correspondence courses online to fulfill her academic requirements while pursuing her musical education.   

Graceful and soft-spoken, Cabeza mentions the violin loaned to her by the Stradivari Society of Chicago, a rare Gragnani, circa 18th century.

“There is something that happens to a violin as it ages,” she said. “They sound better as they get older.”

For the average person, merely touching such an instrument would invite anxiety. But Maia Cabeza seems to take it in stride. Along with the list of awards and scholarship she has accumulated at yet a tender age, Cabeza has acquired another skill that has been pointed out by critics and audience members –a remarkable poise as a performer.

She learned a lot from her mother, a flutist, Cabeza says, but she also has her own routine that helps her prepare for a performance.

“I just think about what the music means and then try and convey that to the audience.”

It seems simple enough, but for many, such a skill takes years of practice. That is often the realization that comes with witnessing a Curtis student perform. They make it seem so easy, but the work involved is immeasurable. Not only does one admire the sounds produced by manipulation of the instruments, but the commitment to the art of music and instruments themselves.

The Curtis Institute of Music offers free student concerts throughout the year. The Curtis Symphony and Curtis Opera each offer a full season of performances. Information on tickets and subscriptions are available at  www.curtis.edu or (215) 893-7902.