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Fast Facts

Founded:
October 1924 by Mary Louise Curtis Bok, with artistic guidance from Leopold Stokowski and Josef Hofmann.
Chartered Purpose:
"To train exceptionally gifted young musicians for careers as performing artists on the highest professional level."
President:
Roberto Díaz, 2006-
Tuition:
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 159. 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
Curtis Faculty:

Includes:
Richard Danielpour
Roberto Díaz
Mikael Eliasen
Leon Fleisher
Claude Frank
Pamela Frank
Gary Graffman
Jennifer Higdon
Ida Kavafian
Seymour Lipkin
Marlena Kleinman Malas
Edgar Meyer
Otto-Werner Mueller
Joan Patenaude-Yarnell
Aaron Rosand
Joseph Silverstein
Ignat Solzhenitsyn
Members of the Guarneri Quartet
Principal players of the Philadelphia Orchestra

Performances: 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
(2009-10):

Australia, 2
Canada, 9
Czech Republic, 2
France, 1
Japan, 2
Korea, 13
Macau, 1
Mexico, 1
New Zealand, 2
People's Republic of China, 14
Republic of China (Taiwan), 5
Russia, 3
United Kingdon, 1
United States, 103

Some Noted
Curtis Alumni:

Rose Bampton
Samuel Barber
Leonard Bernstein
Jonathan Biss
Judith Blegen
Marc Blitzstein
Jorge Bolet
Yefim Bronfman
Vinson Cole
John de Lancie
Juan Diego Flórez
Lukas Foss
Alan Gilbert
Boris Goldovsky
Richard Goode
Hilary Hahn
Lynn Harrell
Miguel Harth-Bedoya
Shuler Hensley
Eugene Istomin
Paul Jacobs
Paavo Järvi
Leila Josefowicz
Young Uck Kim
Lang Lang
Jaime Laredo
Cecile Licad
Leon McCawley
Anthony McGill
Gian Carlo Menotti
Anna Moffo
Vincent Persichetti
John Relyea
George Rochberg
Ned Rorem
Leonard Rose
Nino Rota
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
Michael Schade
Peter Serkin
Rinat Shaham
Robert Spano
Michael Stern
Benita Valente
George Walker
Yuja Wang
Hugo Weisgall

Noted Curtis Chamber Ensembles:

Guarneri Quartet (4)
Miami Quartet (4)
Time for Three (3)
Divertimento Trio (3)
Muir String Quartet (3)
Borromeo Quartet (2)

Budget and
Fund-Raising:
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.

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.

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"The Glory of Gabrieli" at St. Mark's

The Curtis Brass Ensemble, led by Paul Bryan, brings a spectacular program of Renaissance brass repertoire to St. Mark's Church on Sunday, March 7 at 3 p.m. "The Glory of Gabrieli" features music by Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Holborne, and Scheidt, among others, for ensembles ranging from brass quintet to massed brass choirs. The recital is free and no tickets are required. St. Mark's Episcopal Church is located at 1625 Locust Street, Philadelphia.

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© 2009 The Curtis Institute of Music