Legacy of Composition

Since its earliest years, Curtis has been home to some of the most celebrated composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Mary Louise Curtis Bok generously supported composers throughout her lifetime and ensured that the creation and performance of new music were an integral part of the Curtis experience.

The first composition teacher at Curtis was Rosario Scalero, who came to the U.S. from his native Italy in 1919 to teach at Mannes. His strict teaching methods, marked by a dogmatic approach to the study of counterpoint as opposed to more modern conventions, were a perennial source of complaint. But all the same, they must have been valuable, considering that four of his students—Gian Carlo Menotti (’33), Samuel Barber (’34), Ned Rorem (’44), and George Walker (’45)—went on to win Pulitzer Prizes and enjoy some of the most famed careers of any American composers.

Another early faculty member was the Austrian composer Richard Stöhr. A job offer from Mrs. Bok allowed Stöhr to emigrate in 1939 and escape further persecution for his Jewish heritage by the Nazis. Rudolf Serkin, when still a student in Vienna, and Leonard Bernstein (’41) were among Stöhr’s notable students of counterpoint and harmony.

Beginning in 1941, when Menotti returned to teach at Curtis, the department would continue to include at least one former Scalero student on its faculty for an astonishing 60 years. In addition to Barber, Menotti’s classmate and longtime partner, these included Constant Vauclain (’40) and Rorem, a charismatic presence at Curtis for more than 20 years whose 80th birthday in 2003 was celebrated by students and alumni with a week-long “Roremania.”

In recent decades, notable faculty appointments included Jennifer Higdon (’88), whose Pulitzer Prize-winning violin concerto Curtis co-commissioned for Hilary Hahn (Violin ’99); David Serkin Ludwig (’01), the third member of the Serkin family to teach at Curtis; and Richard Danielpour, whose 25 years on the faculty Curtis honored in 2023 with a celebratory concert of his new works. Through Curtis’s composer in residence program, composition students have also had the opportunity to work with a wide array of august composers including Joan Tower, John Corigliano, George Crumb, Steven Stucky, Krzysztof Penderecki, Kaija Saariaho, and Tania León. Curtis’s acclaimed contemporary music ensemble, Ensemble 20/21, presents an annual “Portrait Concert” for each year’s composer in residence, offering student performers the collaborative experience of bringing new music to life.

The composition department entered a new era in 2022 with the announcement of four new faculty members: Jonathan Bailey Holland (’96), Amy Beth Kirsten, Steven Mackey, and Nick DiBerardino (’18), who is the current chair of composition studies, director of Ensemble 20/21, and the school’s provost. Curtis has commissioned a major new work from each as part of an ambitious effort to engage the entire Curtis community in marking the school’s upcoming centennial, advancing into the next hundred years with an even firmer commitment to new music.

Faculty Timeline

  • This list includes auxiliary faculty as well as primary faculty
  • Scalero and students
    Rosario Scalero
    Composition — 1924-33, 1935-46
  • Deems Taylor
    Composition — 1925-26
  • Randall Thompson and students
    Randall Thompson
    Composition — 1939-41
  • Andre Constant Vauclain
    Constant Vauclain
    Composition — 1939-63
  • Gian Carlo Menotti
    Composition — 1941-55, 1965-71
  • Bohuslav Martinů
    Composition — 1955-56
  • Vittorio Gianniini
    Composition — 1956-64
  • Samuel Barber
    Samuel Barber
    Composition — 1965-71
  • Myron Fink
    Composition — 1970-76
  • David Loeb
    David Loeb
    Composition — 1973-00
  • Ned Rorem
    Composition — 1980-01
  • Jennifer Higdon
    Jennifer Higdon
    Composition — 1994-21
  • Richard Danielpour
    Richard Danielpour
    Composition — 1997-Present
  • David Serkin Ludwig
    Composition — 2002-21
  • Nick DiBerardino
    Composition — 2022-Present
  • Jonathan Bailey Holland
    Jonathan Bailey Holland
    Composition — 2022-Present
  • Amy Beth Kirsten
    Amy Beth Kirsten
    Composition — 2022-Present
  • Steven Mackey
    Steven Mackey
    Composition — 2022-Present
George Walker leading a composition masterclass
  • Dr. George Walker holds a master class with composition students, Doug McLea, Daniel Ott, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Luis Valcarcel, and Luis Prado. November 15, 1994
1926
First Composition Alumi

Marc Blitzstein
Frank J. Potamkin

158
Total Composition Alumni

How many names do you recognize on this list of Curtis composition alumni? View list

6
Composition Studio

There are up to 6 composition students studying at Curtis in any given year.

Noted Composition Alumni

Marc Blitzstein

1905–64
Composition ’26

Marc Blitzstein

Curtis’s first composition student admitted in 1924, Blitzstein grew up in Philadelphia, where his Odesa-born parents owned an “immigrant bank” providing financial services to recent arrivals from Eastern Europe. He continued studying piano, making his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra while a student, and received from Scalero all A’s his first year and A+’s his second for “application and progress.” He left Curtis to study with Nadia Boulanger and Arnold Schoenberg, and eventually revolutionized musical theater and music as a means of political commentary.
William Frederick (Pejawah) Cardin

1895–1960
Composition ’27

William Frederick (Pejawah) Cardin

Known also as Pejawah (Big Cat), Cardin pioneered Native American music as a composer and violinist. He gained acclaim with the Indian String Quartet, performing in indigenous regalia, and founded the Indian Art and Musical Company to champion “Indianist” repertoire. Cardin’s better-known compositions include “Cree War Dance” and “Great Drum,” which he performed throughout the 1930s. After an illness diminished his playing, Cardin became an influential music teacher and community organizer in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Roman Prydatkevych

1895–1980
Composition ’28

Roman Prydatkevych

Prydatkevych was already a highly respected recitalist and pedagogue when he emigrated to the U.S. after serving in the Austro-Hungarian army that reclaimed Galicia from Russian forces. He eventually penned more than 200 compositions, many for his own performance as a virtuoso violinist, seamlessly mingling traditions of post-romanticism and folk music. Along with his scholarly writings, these were instrumental in initiating the academic study of Ukrainian music. Solomiya Ivakhiv (Violin ’03) has played a vital role in the rediscovery of Prydatkevych’s compositions.
Elbert Lenrow

1902–92
Composition ’31

Elbert Lenrow

Lenrow was a beloved teacher who led the English department at New York’s Fieldston School from 1933–70 and lectured at the New School for Social Research. His memoir Kerouac Ascending details his close friendship with Beat icons Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, who were among his students at the New School. Though he did not continue composing, his compiled and translated Letters of Richard Wagner to Anton Pusinelli is one of the most important collections of first-hand Wagner documents ever published.
Jeanne Behrend

1911–88
Composition and Piano ’34, Faculty 1937–44

Jeanne Behrend

Also honored in Curtis’s Legacy of Keyboards as a pioneer performer of American music, Behrend showed promise for large-scale composition during her student years, premiering works for the Curtis Quartet at the Academy of Music and crafting a song cycle for soprano Ellen Faull (’45) when the latter was Behrend’s musical studies student. Frustration over the difficulty of having her compositions performed led her to crusade on behalf of many contemporary North and South American composers during the mid-20th century.
Mary Harbold

1912–96
Composition ’43

Mary L. Harbold

Harbold became a professor of physics at Temple University and published widely in scientific journals. Her early research dealt with radiation detection, though the study of acoustics kept alive her passion for music. She served for many years on the executive committee of the Acoustical Society of America and was active in the Catgut Acoustical Society (part of the Violin Society of America), known for its pioneering work in developing scientific insights applicable to the construction of stringed instruments.
George Walker

1922–2018
Composition and Piano ’45

George Walker

Though he dreamed of being a concert pianist and was indeed the first Black pianist to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Walker ultimately turned his efforts to composition. A pivotal experience was studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, who told him “You are a composer, and this song is a masterpiece” at their first lesson. He published more than 60 works over the next three decades, has had his work performed by virtually every American orchestra, and was the first Black composer to receive a Pulitzer Prize.
Otey Orlando

1925–2011
Composition ’47

Otey Orlando

Otey gave his first piano recital in his native Mexico City at age four and began touring internationally and composing at seven. He served on the faculty of Mexico’s National Music School before matriculating at Curtis. He earned the nickname “The Chopin of Mexico” for the style of his playing and composition and represented the U.S. at the 1949 Chopin International Piano Competition. Otey was also a respected music theorist who developed an elaborate system of analysis, as outlined in his Otey Music Teaching Method (1973).
Patricia Parr

b. 1937
Composition ’56

Patricia Parr

Parr, a Canadian pianist and composer, performed throughout North America as a soloist and founding member of the acclaimed AMICI Chamber Ensemble, while teaching for nearly two decades at the University of Toronto. She was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2010, and in 2016 published Above Parr: Memoir of a Child Prodigy, which recounts her experiences pursuing a career that began when she was just six years old. Parr often programmed her own music alongside works by other Canadian composers, playing a profound role in the development of Canadian chamber music.
Stanley Hollingsworth

1924–2003
Composition ’53, Faculty 1949–55

Stanley Hollingsworth

Hollingsworth taught at Curtis as an assistant to Menotti, and like his former teacher, was best known for his operas. After the success of his children’s opera trilogy—The Mother, The Selfish Giant, and Harrison Loved His Umbrella—the NBC Opera Theatre commissioned him to write an opera for television, La Grande Bretèche. Hollingsworth taught at Oakland University in Michigan from 1976 to 1993; his varied career included stints as a stage director and as composer and orchestrator for the acclaimed Harkness Ballet.
José Serebrier

b. 1938
Composition ’58

José Serebrier

A native of Uruguay, Serebrier has enjoyed a dual career as a composer as well as a conductor who worked with most of the world’s major orchestras and made more than 300 recordings. Highlights of his early career include five years as associate conductor to Leopold Stokowski with the American Symphony Orchestra and two years as composer in residence with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. Serebrier’s work has been recognized a number of times by the GRAMMY Awards, and his Carmen Symphony won the 2004 Latin GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Album.
Michele Levin

b. 1945
Piano ’63, Composition ’65

Michele Levin

Levin began studying piano at Curtis at age 11, later expanding her focus to composition. In high demand as a soloist and chamber musician, Levin has toured the world with some of today’s most acclaimed instrumentalists, vocalists, and chamber ensembles. She has been a frequent collaborator with the Muir String Quartet, who gave the premieres of her String Quartet No. 1 and Quintet for Bassoon and String Quartet, and often performed as a recital and chamber music partner of violinist Joseph Silverstein (’50).
Daron Hagen

b. 1961
Composition ’84

Daron Hagen

Hagen is a composer, writer, and director whose abundant output includes twelve operas and more than 400 art songs. His memoir, Duet with the Past, offers vivid sketches of many colleagues, friends, and mentors, including Bernstein, Menotti, Rorem, and Paul Muldoon. He founded the New Mercury Collective in 2013 as a laboratory for artistic exploration and creative risk-taking through post-genre works. Hagen recently debuted as a filmmaker with his “operafilm” Orson Rehearsed, which garnered numerous awards on the international film circuit.
Clark Griffith

b. 1964
Composition ’86

Clark Vann Griffith

The son of alumna Anna Dupree Griffith (Percussion ’60), Vann Griffith has had a multifaceted career as a programmer, website developer, classical music announcer, and orchestral pianist. He is a two-time winner of the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition whose competition repertoire has included his original transcriptions of Bach’s solo violin music. His onstage appearances in Moisés Kaufman’s play 33 Variations, inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, have received critical acclaim.
Russell Platt

b. 1965
Composition ’88

Russell Platt

Currently on the musicology faculty at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, Platt worked as a classical music editor at The New Yorker for eighteen years until 2018. An active composer, he frequently engages with other mediums in works such as Mountain Interval, a seven-movement double tribute to Beethoven’s String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131, and several beloved poems by Robert Frost. Platt is currently working on a solo bassoon piece to commemorate Curtis’s centennial, among other projects.

b. 1969
Composition ’91

Troy Peters

Multifaceted conductor and composer Peters directs the UTSA Orchestra at the University of Texas San Antonio and Youth Orchestra of San Antonio (YOSA). Called “impossibly cool” by the San Antonio Current, he is also a frequent guest conductor and a popular lecturer who has gained international attention for his orchestral collaborations with rock musicians, including Blind Pilot, Jon Anderson (of the band Yes), and Trey Anastasio (of the band Phish), with whom he recorded two albums on Elektra Records.
Eli Marshall

b. 1977
Composition ’03

Eli Marshall

Currently part of Cornell University’s music faculty, Marshall is known for his eclectic and experimental approach to composition, partly rooted in his recent study of musical sounds similar to linguistic phonology and phonetics. A Fulbright Fellowship after graduation took him to the China Music Research Institute, where he launched his career as a founding member of the Beijing New Music Ensemble and provided the score for Ann Hui’s film The Golden Era, which closed the 2014 Venice International Film Festival.
Solbong Kim

b. 1981
Composition ’06

Solbong Kim

Korean-born composer and pianist Kim is the founding artistic director of the Atlantic Music Festival, held each summer on the campus of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 2009, the festival is dedicated to discovering and educating emerging artists and has presented more than 700 world premieres of works by living composers. Kim’s works have been commissioned and performed by leading ensembles including the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Arditti Quartet, and Korean Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
Rene Orth

b. 1985
Composition ’16

Rene Orth

A composer whose works often blend electronic soundscapes with acoustic music and have been described as “rarely predictable,” Orth was composer in residence for Opera Philadelphia for three years and the inaugural resident composer at Opera San José for the 2022–23 season. In September 2023, Opera Philadelphia gave the world premiere of her opera 10 Days in a Madhouse, based on pioneering reporter Nellie Bly’s internment at Blackwell’s Asylum.
Gabriella Smith

b. 1991
Composition ’13

Gabriella Smith

Smith grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area playing and writing music, hiking, backpacking, and volunteering on a songbird research project at Point Reyes. Inspired by her love of the natural world, many of her works address the climate crisis and participation in climate solutions. Recent highlights include the premiere of her organ concerto Breathing Forests, written for James McVinnie and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, and the release of her first full-length album, Lost Coast, recorded in Iceland with cellist Gabriel Cabezas (’13).
Dai Wei

b. 1989
Composition ’19

Dai Wei

Originally from China, Dai often draws from Eastern philosophy and aesthetics to create works with contemporary resonance and performs as a Khoomei throat singer in some of her own compositions. Inspired by her recent collaborations with local performers and musicians in the Tibet and Yunnan provinces, her chamber orchestra work Invisible Portals premiered in March 2022 at Carnegie Hall with conductor Marin Alsop. Dai is currently pursuing her doctorate in Music Composition at Princeton University as a Naumburg Fellow.

Legacy of Curtis

Leading to its centennial year, Curtis began a multi-year project celebrating each of the school’s major areas of study.

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