Curtis’ Centennial & Violist Dillon Scott Featured on NBC10

“I was very impressed with his talent. He has tremendous ability, and he is incredibly dedicated. He understands the responsibility of the artist to the community.” —Roberto Díaz, President and CEO

Emmy and Murrow-winning NBC10 reporter Keith Jones recently stopped by the Curtis campus to learn more about the school’s musical mission over the past century and spoke with 21-year-old violist student Dillon Scott, who studies with Roberto Díaz and Edward Gazouleas as the Mark E. Rubenstein Fellow. The Montgomery County native (one of four Philadelphia-area students currently attending the school) was recently spotlighted in the New York Times alongside four of his classmates and by Project 440, a Philadelphia-based organization that helps young people use their interest in music to forge new pathways for and ignite change in their communities. Mr. Scott grew up wanting nothing more than to attend Curtis so that he might hone his craft and now looks to use his platform to lift up his community.

“I see sort of an entrepreneurial future for me, in diversifying this art form, advocating for people that have not had the resources to particiate, but really would if they had the opportunity. I believe as someone that’s going to this school, it automatically gives me a platform in this industry to do something about that.”

Watch the NBC10 interview HERE.

A finalist in both the junior and senior divisions of the 2023 Sphinx Competition, Mr. Scott was awarded first place at the Nelly Berman Young Classical Virtuosos of Tomorrow, and was also featured on NPR’s From the Top. He has performed as a soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and as soloist at Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall. As a supporter of contemporary and underrepresented voices, Mr. Scott has championed the Viola Concerto by Roberto Sierra and the Viola Sonata and String Quartet No. 1 by George Walker, and in past summers, he attended the Perlman Music Program, Kneisel Hall, the Sphinx Performance Academy, the Verbier Festival, and the Dali Quartet International Music Festival.

Learn more about Curtis’ Centennial Season and upcoming performances this spring HERE.

Photos of Dillon Scott and Roberto Díaz with Keith Jones, courtesy of Patricia K. Johnson.