The Curtis Institute
of Music remains the only major conservatory of its kind to
provide merit-based full-tuition scholarships for all its students
Enrollment:
Currently 162. Enrollment
is kept very limited, with only enough students to complete
a full orchestra and a select opera department, plus a small
number of keyboard, composition and conducting students.
Major Departments
Composition
Conducting
Keyboard instruments (piano, organ and harpsichord)
Orchestral instruments (strings, harp, woodwinds, brass, timpani
and percussion)
Vocal Studies (voice and opera)
Academic
Programs:
Diploma
Bachelor of Music
Master of Music in Opera
Professional Studies Certificate in Opera
In keeping with its
philosophy that students "learn most by doing," Curtis
presents more than 130 public performances
a year, including concerts by the Curtis Symphony Orchestra
and the Curtis Chamber Orchestra, productions by the Curtis
Opera Theatre, and solo and chamber music recitals on the Student
Recital Series. Performances are held in Field Concert Hall
and the Opera Studio at Curtis, Verizon Hall and Perelman Theater
at the Kimmel Center, the Prince Music Theater, and other venues
in the Philadelphia region.
Curtis
Directors:
Johann Grolle, 1924-25
William E. Walter, 1925-27
Josef Hofmann, 1927-38
Randall Thompson, 1939-41
Efrem Zimbalist, 1941-68
Rudolf Serkin, 1968-76
John de Lancie, 1977-85
Gary Graffman, 1986-2006
Roberto Díaz, 2006-
Geographic
Distribution
of Students (2007-08):
Australia, 1
Canada, 7
Czech Republic, 3
France, 1
Greece, 1
Israel, 3
Italy, 1
Japan, 2
Korea, 18
Macao, 2
Mexico, 1
People's Republic of China, 11
Republic of China (Taiwan), 5
Singapore, 1
Switzerland, 1
United States, 104
Some
Noted
Curtis Alumni:
Rose Bampton
Samuel Barber
Leonard Bernstein
Jorge Bolet
Yefim Bronfman
Roberto Díaz
Juan Diego Flórez
Lukas Foss
Pamela Frank
Alan Gilbert
Boris Goldovsky
Richard Goode
Gary Graffman
Hilary Hahn
Lynn Harrell
Eugene Istomin
Paavo Järvi
Leila Josefowicz
Young Uck Kim
Lang Lang
Jaime Laredo
Gian Carlo Menotti
Anna Moffo
Vincent Persichetti
Ned Rorem
Aaron Rosand
Leonard Rose
Nino Rota
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
Peter Serkin
Ignat Solzhenitsyn
Robert Spano
Benita Valente
George Walker
Mary Louise Curtis Bok, founder of The Curtis
Institute of Music, gave the school a $12.5 million gift in
1927. The gift, at the time a huge sum, provided financial
support for much of the school's history. In the 1980s, Curtis
instituted annual fund-raising to help pay a portion of the
annual operating expenses. For the 2006-07 school year, the
school's budget was $11 million, of which 23 percent must
be covered by annual fund-raising.
Curtis receives annual operating support from
the Mary Louise Curtis Bok Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation
founded by the Curtis board in 1932 to administer Mrs. Bok's
endowment. A joint committee oversees the investments of the
Bok Foundation and Curtis endowments.
Curtis completed its five-year Sound
for the Century Campaign in 2004, raising more than $35
million in endowment, annual, and capital funds. In 2006 the
school completed the Lenfest-Annenberg Challenge and added
a total of $15 million to the endowment. The funds help assure
the school's long-established policy of offering full-tuition
scholarships to all students, ensuring that artistic merit
is the sole consideration for admission.
Powered by Instant Encore, Curtis Radio provides a constant stream of music. Featured selections include works by Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, and Dvorák performed by the 2008 Curtis On Tour ensemble.
