A violist of international reputation, Roberto Díaz is president and CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music, following in the footsteps of renowned soloist/directors such as Josef Hofmann, Efrem Zimbalist, and Rudolf Serkin.

As a soloist, Mr. Díaz collaborates with leading conductors of our time on stages throughout the world. He has also worked directly with important 20th- and 21st-century composers, including the late Krzysztof Penderecki—whose viola concerto he has performed numerous times with the composer on the podium and whose double concerto he premiered in the United States—as well as Edison Denisov, Jennifer Higdon, Ricardo Lorenz, and Roberto Sierra. His recording of Jennifer Higdon’s Viola Concerto won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2018.

A frequent recitalist, Mr. Díaz enjoys collaborating with young musicians, bringing a fresh approach to the repertoire and providing invaluable opportunities to artists at the beginning of their careers. In addition to performing with major string quartets and pianists in chamber music series and festivals worldwide, he is a member of the Díaz Trio. His recordings include a Grammy-nominated disc of viola transcriptions by William Primrose for Naxos, as well as releases on the Artek, Bridge Records, Dorian, Nimbus, and New World labels.

In addition to his decade-long tenure as principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Díaz was also principal viola of the National Symphony under Mstislav Rostropovich, and was a member of the Boston Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he continues to serve on the faculty, holding the James and Betty Matarese Chair in Viola Studies and the Nina von Maltzahn President’s Chair. Mr. Díaz plays the ex-Primrose Amati viola.

Grammy Award-winner Jason Vieaux is “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” (Gramophone). Performance highlights from the 2019–20 season include debuts at the Domaine-Forget International and Carmel Bach festivals; and appearances with the Caramoor Festival as artist in residence, San Francisco Performances, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Ravinia Festival. Notable venues include the National Gallery of Art, Shanghai Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Buenos Aires’s Teatro Colón, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, and New York’s 92Y, .

As a chamber musician, Mr. Vieaux appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, and the Strings and Eastern Music festivals. He has appeared as a soloist with over 100 orchestras and has performed premieres by Jonathan Leshnoff, Avner Dorman, Jeff Beal, Dan Visconti, David Ludwig, Vivian Fung, and Mark Mancina, among others.

Mr. Vieaux’s extensive discography includes the 2015 Grammy Award-winning album for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, Play. In 2019 Mr. Vieaux released a premiere recording of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Guitar Concerto with Nashville Symphony (Naxos) and the album Dance with the Escher Quartet (Azica). Other recent recordings include Infusion (Azica) with accordion/bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro, Ginastera’s Guitar Sonata, on Ginastera: One Hundred (Oberlin Music), and Together (Azica) with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis. In 2009 he was the first classical musician to be featured on NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert” series.

In 2012 the Jason Vieaux School of Classical Guitar was launched with ArtistWorks Inc., an interface that provides one-on-one online study to guitar students around the world. Mr. Vieaux is head of the guitar department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he has taught since 1997. Mr. Vieaux joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2011. He plays a 2013 Gernot Wagner guitar.