Curtis on Tour in Philadelphia

Brazilian-American soprano Sophia Hunt’s performances have been praised as “trenchant” and “vocally skilled” (Opera News), “exceptionally strong both vocally and dramatically” (Parterre Box), and “vibrant and musically intelligent” (Broad Street Review). Ms. Hunt is a current member of the Dutch National Opera Studio. She is from Brooklyn, NY, and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she most recently held the Rubenstein Fellowship and worked with Carol Vaness. Ms. Hunt was the top prize winner in the 2023 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition and the 2023 Orpheus Vocal Competition, and a national semifinalist in the 2022 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

This season, Ms. Hunt sings Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte), the Soprano (The Four-Note Opera), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), and Suor Dolcina (Suor Angelica), as well as covers Violetta (La traviata), with Dutch National Opera. Her past roles include Don Giovanni (Donna Anna and Donna Elvira), Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi), La clemenza di Tito (Vitellia), and Rene Orth’s Empty the House (Faith). In 2022, she was a studio artist with Wolf Trap Opera, where she sang Susannah (Mrs. Gleaton) and covered La traviata (Violetta).

Ms. Hunt is passionate about concert and recital work, and has recently sung with Opera Philadelphia, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the City Choir of Washington, Curtis on Tour in Greece, the Main Line Symphony Orchestra, and the Art Song Preservation Society of New York. She was a recipient of grants from the Winston Classical Voice Scholarship and the Pittsburgh Foundation, and a prize winner in the Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition, the Dorothy Lincoln Smith Competition in Classical Voice, and the International Collegiate Singing Championship, among others. Ms. Hunt was a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and has participated in the Joyce DiDonato master classes at Carnegie Hall, Houston Grand Opera’s YAVA, and SongFest.

From Seoul, South Korea, Ms. Han is an active clarinetist and performer across stages around the world. Sara is currently a DaCamera Young Artist based in Houston, TX, where she performs chamber music and engages with communities across the city. Additionally, she is an active orchestral performer, having recently performed with The Florida Orchestra, the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and the Houston Ballet Orchestra. Ms. Han recently completed her Master’s Degree at the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. Prior to her time at Rice, she completed her undergraduate studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, during which she served as acting principal clarinetist of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and a member of Symphony in C. Ms. Han attended the Music Academy of the West in the summer of 2019 and was named winner of the Keston MAX Audition. She also attended the New York String Orchestra Seminar, Aspen Music Festival and School, and the National Youth Orchestra of the USA. Ms. Han was a winner of the 2018 Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition, has been featured on the NPR radio show From the Top, and has appeared as soloist with the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra and the Seoul Romance Orchestra. Ms. Han has also previously attended The Juilliard School and the Interlochen Arts Academy. Ms. Han is thankful for the guidance of Richie Hawley, Anthony McGill, and Emil Khudyev.

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 teacher of viola at Curtis and former principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, 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.

As a soloist, Mr. Díaz collaborates with leading conductors of our time on stages throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia.  He has also worked directly with important 20th- and 21st-century composers, including Krzysztof Penderecki—whose viola concerto he has performed many 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.

As a frequent recitalist, Mr. Díaz enjoys collaborating with young pianists, bringing a fresh approach to the repertoire and providing invaluable opportunities to artists at the beginnings of their careers. In addition to performing with major string quartets and pianists in chamber music series and festivals worldwide, Mr. Díaz has toured Europe, Asia, and the Americas as a member of the Díaz Trio with violinist Andrés Cárdenes and cellist Andrés Díaz. The Díaz Trio has recorded for the Artek and Dorian labels.

Mr. Díaz’s recordings on the Naxos label with pianist Robert Koenig include the complete works for viola and piano by Henri Vieuxtemps and a Grammy-nominated disc of viola transcriptions by William Primrose. Also on Naxos are Brahms sonatas with pianist Jeremy Denk and Jonathan Leshnoff’s Double Concerto with violinist Charles Wetherbee and the Iris Chamber Orchestra led by Michael Stern. Mr. Díaz’s live performance of Jacob Druckman’s Viola Concerto with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra is available on New World Records. He has also recorded the Walton Viola Concerto with William Boughton and the New Haven Symphony for Nimbus Records, and works for viola and orchestra by Peter Lieberson with Scott Yoo and the Odense Symphony Orchestra and for Bridge Records.

Since founding Curtis on Tour in 2007, Mr. Díaz has taken this successful initiative to North and South America, Europe, and Asia, performing chamber music side-by-side with Curtis students and other faculty and alumni of the school. His tenure as president of Curtis has also seen the construction of a significant new building which doubled the size of the school’s campus; the introduction of a classical guitar department and new conducting and string quartet programs; and the launch of Curtis Summerfest, summer courses open to the public. In the fall of 2013 Curtis became the first classical music conservatory to offer free online classes through Coursera.

Also under Mr. Díaz’s leadership, Curtis has developed lasting collaborations with other music and arts institutions in Philadelphia and throughout the world and established a dynamic social entrepreneurship curriculum, supported by a prestigious Advancement Grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Designed to develop the entrepreneurial and advocacy skills of young musicians, this curriculum includes the project-based Community Artist Program (CAP) and the post-graduate Community Artist Fellowship program, which gives recent Curtis graduates the opportunity to dedicate a year of arts-based service to the community.

Mr. Díaz received an honorary doctorate from Bowdoin College and was awarded an honorary membership by the National Board of the American Viola Society. In 2013 he became a member of the prestigious American Philosophical Society founded by Benjamin Franklin. As a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he was selected by then-music director Christoph Eschenbach to receive the 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.” He received a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Burton Fine; and a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where his teacher was his predecessor at the Philadelphia Orchestra, Joseph de Pasquale. Mr. Díaz also holds a degree in industrial design.

In addition to his decade-long tenure as principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he performed the entire standard viola concerto repertoire and gave a number of Philadelphia Orchestra premieres, 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 Sir Neville Marriner. He plays the ex-Primrose Amati viola.

Twenty-five-year-old Chinese pianist Ying Li is the First Prize winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, as well as recipient of The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Prize and the Tri-I Noon Recitals Prize. She has received top awards in numerous national and international competitions including the inaugural Antonio Mormone International Prize, Sarasota Artist Series Piano Competition, Brevard Music Festival, and was a finalist at Concours musical international de Montréal.

Ms. Li has performed with many leading orchestras such as The Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Brevard Music Festival Orchestra, L’Accademia Orchestra del La Scala, NWD-Philharmoniker, and the Stuttgart Philharmonic with conductors such as Lina Gonzalez-Granados, Xian Zhang, Dan Ettinger, Eric Jacobsen, and Jonathon Heyward. This season she makes her debut with the Buffalo Philharmonic and embarks on a 8 city tour of Italy.

Ms. Li made her New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and her Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. Upcoming and recent recitals also include Sala Verdi in Milan, Hammerklavier International Piano Festival in Barcelona, Musica Insieme Bologna, Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna, Fazioli Pianoforti in Sacile, and the C. Bechstein Series at the Konzerthaus in Berlin. Ying was also featured on WQXR’s “Eine-kleine Birthday-musik,” a free, all-Mozart live streamed concert from The Greene Space in New York City, to celebrate Mozart’s 266th birthday.

As an avid chamber musician, Ms. Li has appeared at prestigious festivals around the world including the Verbier Festival Academy, ClassicheFORME International Chamber Music festival in Lecce, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, La Jolla Music Society and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival.

Ms. Li began piano lessons at age five in China and was a student at the Elementary School division of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, then she moved to Philadelphia in 2012, at age fourteen, to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Jonathan Biss and Seymour Lipkin. After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree at Curtis Institute in 2019, she received her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School in New York with Robert McDonald and continues her studies with McDonald at the Juilliard School’s Artist Diploma Program.