Roberto Díaz, President

A violist of international reputation, Curtis President Roberto Díaz follows in the footsteps of renowned artist/directors Gary Graffman, Efrem Zimbalist, Rudolf Serkin, and Josef Hofmann. As a viola teacher at Curtis and as principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1996 to 2006, Mr. Díaz has already had a significant impact on American musical life and continues to do so in his dual roles as performer and educator.

Some of Mr. Díaz's recent performances include the Fort Worth Symphony with Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias with Krzysztof Penderecki, Kansas City Symphony with Michael Stern, and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional (Mexico City) with Carlos Miguel Prieto.

During the 2007-08 season, he was a member of the first-ever Curtis On Tour ensemble, playing alongside a quartet of Curtis students and cellist Margo Tatgenhorst Drakos ('99). The group performed in Maine, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania--in recital at Curtis and Longwood Gardens. The previous season, Mr. Díaz performed Krzysztof Penderecki's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra in Carnegie Hall with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach.

Mr. Díaz has collaborated with conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Richard Hickox, Christopher Hogwood, Peter Oundjian, Hugh Wolff, and David Zinman. In addition to Krzysztof Penderecki, he has also worked with important twentieth- and twenty-first-century composers, including Edison Denisov and Roberto Sierra.

In 2006 Naxos released a recording by Mr. Díaz of viola transcriptions by William Primrose, which was nominated for a Grammy Award. Mr. Primrose served on the Curtis faculty from 1942 to 1951 and owned the 1595 Amati viola on which Mr. Díaz performs. Mr. Díaz’s other releases include a live recording of Jacob Druckman’s Viola Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch (New World Records, 2001) and works by Henri Vieuxtemps for viola and piano (Naxos, 2004).

An active chamber musician, Mr. Díaz has performed with artists such as the Emerson String Quartet, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Christoph Eschenbach, Yo-Yo Ma, Mr. Sawallisch, and Isaac Stern. His festival appearances include Marlboro, Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center, Spoleto, Kuhmo, and Verbier, among many others. As a member of the Díaz Trio, with violinist Andrés Cárdenes and cellist Andrés Díaz, he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Chile. The Díaz Trio is an ensemble-in-residence at the Brevard Music Festival and toured China in the summer of 2006.

Mr. Díaz was principal viola of the National Symphony under Mstislav Rostropovich, a member of the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, and a member of the Minnesota Orchestra under Neville Marriner. While in the Philadelphia Orchestra, he served as a board member for three years, including two years on the executive committee.

He has received numerous awards, including prizes at the Naumburg and Munich international viola competitions, as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2006 C. Hartman Kuhn Award, given annually to “the member of the Philadelphia Orchestra who has shown ability and enterprise of such character as to enhance the standards and the reputation of the Philadelphia Orchestra.”

Mr. Díaz joined the faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music in 2000 and holds the James and Betty Matarese Chair in Viola Studies. He has served on the faculty at the Peabody Institute and Rice University and has taught master classes at conservatories around the United States and abroad.

PHOTO: Alan Kolc

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