Curtis Institute of Music Announces 2025–26 Season

Curtis’s thrilling season features world-class conductors, newly commissioned works, and a tribute to Grammy-winning composer in residence Jessie Montgomery

Subscriptions and single tickets on sale at curtis.edu/tickets

Subscription tickets on sale April 22, 2025

Curtis’ thrilling season features world-class conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and works by Samuel Barber (Composition ’34), Missy Mazzoli, Henry Dorn, Carlos Simon, and Clarice Assad

Curtis Symphony Orchestra features Krzysztof Penderecki’s Concerto Grosso for Three Cellos with renowned Curtis faculty Nicholas Canellakis (’06), Yumi Kendall (’06), and Christine Jeonghyoun Lee (’13), a newly commissioned work by David Serkin Ludwig (Composition ’01) with Grammy-winning faculty Imani Winds, and more

Curtis Opera Theatre presents a visionary and eclectic lineup of productions featuring Claudio Monteverdi’s groundbreaking masterpiece L’Orfeo, Kaija Saariaho’s breathtaking opera-oratorio, La Passion de Simone, and Benjamin Britten’s enchanting comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Curtis New Music Ensemble celebrates Grammy-winning composer, violinist, and educator Jessie Montgomery as this year’s composer-in-residence

Press Contacts:
Patricia K. Johnson | patricia.johnson@curtis.edu | (215) 717-3190
Ryan Scott Lathan | ryan.lathan@curtis.edu | (215) 717-3145

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PHILADELPHIA, PA—April 8, 2025—The 2025–26 season begins at the Curtis Institute of Music this October, with bold and innovative programming that includes orchestra, opera, and chamber music concerts and recitals, totaling more than 150 performances in Philadelphia through May 2026.

Throughout the 2025–26 season, Curtis students—some of the finest young musicians in the world—move from the classroom to the stage, sharing their extraordinary passion for classical music through exhilarating performances alongside internationally renowned guest artists, faculty, and alumni. The new season combines beloved repertoire favorites—such as Samuel Barber’s Overture to The School for Scandal, Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3, Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, and Claudio Monteverdi’s groundbreaking masterpiece, L’Orfeo—with cutting-edge, contemporary works—including Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), Henry Dorn’s riveting tone poem, Transitions, Kaija Saariaho’s haunting opera-oratorio La Passion de Simone, and David Serkin Ludwig’s (Composition ’01) new concerto for woodwinds and orchestra, featuring Grammy winners Imani Winds, Curtis’ faculty wind quintet. The season also features an array of new compositions, world premieres, and much more. Subscriptions are available starting April 22, 2025; single tickets will go on sale in May.

Hailed as “the best of the best” (BBC Music Magazine) with a “list of alumni [that] reads like a musical hall of fame” (New York Times), Curtis is excited to welcome its 165-member student body of great young musicians to the school this fall as they hone their impressive artistic talents. In this unique and inclusive environment, they are nurtured by a celebrated faculty, supported by a tuition-free policy, and inspired by the school’s distinctive learn-by-doing approach.

Building upon the dynamic programming of Curtis’ historic 2024–25 centennial year, the school’s 2025–26 season offers a powerful continuation—one filled with exploration and idealism as America celebrates 250 years. As the nation commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—signed just steps from Curtis in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall—the school celebrates its place in this historic city with music that transcends borders and generations. The season features a vibrant range of works, from iconic masterpieces to bold new voices, reflecting the power of music to connect and inspire.

Curtis Institute of Music 2025–26 Season Details

Curtis Symphony Orchestra
Combining exceptional talent with unmatched enthusiasm for music, Curtis Symphony Orchestra is a cornerstone of the Curtis Institute of Music experience. Under the mentorship of internationally renowned conductors and featuring dazzling repertoire, hear Curtis prepare students for careers in the world’s foremost orchestras. The ensemble presents three concerts this season in Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center.

October 11: In the opening concert of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra series, eminent Grammy Award-winning conductor Christoph Eschenbach, musical director of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and a phenomenal trio of renowned Curtis alumni—cellists Nicholas Canellakis (’06), Yumi Kendall (’06), and Christine Jeonghyoun Lee (’13)—in a tour de force reading of Krzysztof Penderecki’s darkly moody, large-scale work, Concerto Grosso for Three Cellos. The program also features legendary Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber’s (’34) first full work for large orchestra, Overture to The School for Scandal, conducted by Mariana Corichi Gómez, second-year Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3, a monumental work of sweeping grandeur and deep spiritual resonance that epitomizes the late-Romantic symphonic tradition.
January 25: Renowned Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in an afternoon of groundbreaking contemporary works and a 20th-century masterpiece. The program opens with visionary composer Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), inspired by planetary movement and the roiling drone of the medieval stringed instrument, the hurdy-gurdy. Acclaimed composer and conductor Henry Dorn’s Transitions follows, a powerful tribute to his late mother’s unspoken strength in the face of cancer. The afternoon continues with the world premiere of prize-winning alumnus and former faculty member David Serkin Ludwig’s (’01) new concerto for woodwinds and orchestra, featuring Grammy winners Imani Winds, Curtis’ celebrated faculty wind quintet. Béla Bartók’s innovative, crowd-pleasing Concerto for Orchestra from 1943 closes the program.
March 26: Five-time Grammy-winning conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Curtis’ head of conducting, leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in the final concert of its 2025–26 series, in an evening of powerful musical storytelling. This captivating program features William L. Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, a groundbreaking 1934 masterpiece that blends African American spirituals with classical symphonic traditions. Premiered by Leopold Stokowski and The Philadelphia Orchestra, the work is celebrated for its stirring melodies and rhythmic vitality. Also featured are orchestral songs from Gustav Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn), performed with rising stars from the Curtis Opera Theatre. Drawing from a groundbreaking, three-volume anthology of 19th-century German folk poetry, Mahler’s settings transform simple tales into vivid musical portraits—by turns whimsical, poignant, and profound. These evocative songs capture the Romantic spirit in full force, offering a compelling journey through love, loss, and the fantastical.

Curtis Opera Theatre
The extraordinary artists of Curtis Opera Theatre collaborate with renowned conductors, directors, and designers to present fresh and passionate performances from across the operatic repertoire. Through visionary productions and extraordinary musicianship, they engage audiences with dynamic interpretations as they prepare for careers on the world’s great stages.

November 14, 16: Curtis Opera Theatre launches its exhilarating 2025–26 series with L’Orfeo, the groundbreaking masterpiece that forever transformed the opera world. Inspired by the legendary Greek myth, composer Claudio Monteverdi and librettist Alessandro Striggio bring to life the timeless tale of Orpheus, a renowned musician who charmed gods and mortals alike, daring to challenge destiny itself in a desperate bid to bring back his beloved Eurydice from the depths of Hades. Internationally renowned conductor David Stern, music director of Palm Beach Opera, returns to Curtis to lead a cast of rising young opera stars and talented musicians of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in widely acclaimed director and playwright John Matsumoto Giampietro’s production at the Philadelphia Film Center. Performed in Italian with English supertitles.
February 26, 28: Curtis Opera Theatre returns in the spring with La Passion de Simone, a spellbinding meditation on faith, sacrifice, and resistance by the late visionary Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and Lebanese-born librettist Amin Maalou. Subtitled “A Musical Journey in 15 Stations,” this otherworldly opera-oratorio follows the extraordinary life and writings of Simone Weil, the progressive French philosopher, activist, and mystic. Acclaimed director Marcus Shields and conductor Marc Lowenstein, founding music director of The Industry in Los Angeles, lead a thrilling cast of opera singers accompanied by a chamber ensemble featuring members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra at the Philadelphia Film Center. Performed in French with English supertitles.
April 30, May 2: Magic and mischief collide in Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears’ enchanting adaptation of William Shakespeare’s beloved romantic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Critically acclaimed director Sarah Ina Meyers and internationally renowned conductor and Curtis alumnus Vinay Parameswaran (’13) lead a dazzling cast of young opera stars and members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in Curtis Opera Theatre’s magical production at the Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. Prepare to be transported to a twilight world where feuding fairies meddle with mortals, hearts are led astray, and the surreal world of dreams blurs the edges of reality. Performed in English with English supertitles.

Curtis New Music Ensemble
Curtis New Music Ensemble features compelling repertoire from the 20th and 21st centuries. With bold collaborations and striking productions, the ensemble embraces the cutting edge of contemporary classical music through the highest level of artistry. In the 2025–26 series, Curtis New Music Ensemble presents two concerts in Curtis’ Gould Rehearsal Hall.

November 20: The first concert of the Curtis New Music Ensemble series, “We the Artists,” features a dynamic program showcasing groundbreaking works by some the most daring American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Coinciding with the Semiquincentennial, the concert highlights music that reflects the rich, multicultural tapestry of the United States, honoring the diverse voices that have shaped its heritage and cultural identity. The program includes Grammy-nominated Brazilian-American composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Clarice Assad’s Canções da America for string quartet; Giants by multi-talented, Grammy-nominated composer, curator, and activist Carlos Simon, Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; selections from Grammy-winning composer, pianist, and conductor Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, a series of six short works for brass and percussion, reimagining the traditional fanfare through a feminist lens; and more.
April 4: The second concert of Curtis New Music Ensemble’s 2025–26 series celebrates this year’s composer-in-residence with a “Portrait of Jessie Montgomery,” featuring works by the acclaimed Grammy Award-winning composer, violinist, and inspiring educator, whose profound works have been praised as “turbulent, wildly colorful, and exploding with life,” (Washington Post). The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence fuses classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of 21st-century American sound and experience. The program features her Concerto Grosso, a bold, contemporary take on the baroque tradition of ripieno (“filling” in Italian) dynamics, where a soloist—in this instance, a solo violinist—stands out against a quieter ensemble. The composer’s Musings for two violins closes the concert. Designed as a series of short movements inspired by the 44 Duos for Two Violins by Béla Bartók, the piece pays homage to some of Ms. Montgomery’s favorite composers of string music.

Curtis Recital Series
Curtis’ promise of learn-by-doing is on full display in the Curtis Recital Series. From young student artists experiencing their first major performance to faculty who’ve played on stages across the globe, this series showcases all that Curtis has to offer as musicians and educators. Recitals are free, but advance registration is required.

Student Recitals: Over 100 free recitals are offered throughout the school year on most Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings starting in mid-October.
Graduation Recitals: During the spring semester, Curtis students on the cusp of their professional careers display their skill and passion in a culminating recital.
Faculty and Studio Recitals: Curtis’ world-renowned faculty are active musicians with years of professional performance experience on international stages. These acclaimed musicians and educators display the depth of their knowledge and abilities during recitals at Curtis.

Curtis on Tour
Curtis on Tour is the Nina von Maltzahn global touring initiative of the Curtis Institute of Music. Embracing the school’s learn-by-doing philosophy, ensembles are infused with the energy and passion of extraordinary emerging artists performing alongside celebrated alumni and faculty. In addition to performances, musicians engage with local communities through educational and community engagement activities. For more than 15 years, Curtis on Tour has maintained a presence at top international concert halls, performing more than 450 concerts in over 120 cities, from New York to Berlin and Hong Kong to Santiago.

Visit curtis.edu/tour throughout the 2025–26 season to view all upcoming performances and events.

Ticketing Information
Subscriptions for the 2025–26 season go on sale April 22. The flexible Choose Your Own subscription option offers 25% off ticket prices when purchasing two or more events. Curtis is also offering a Season Pass, with access to all events in 2025–26 for one flat rate of $149 through August 2025. Each Season Pass is valid for one best-available ticket to each paid season performance. To order a subscription, visit curtis.edu/subscribe call (215) 893-7902, or email tickets@curtis.edu.

Single tickets for the 2025–26 season start at $24 and will be available in May.

Philanthropic Support for Curtis’ 2025–26 Season
Guest conductor appearances for each Curtis Symphony Orchestra performance are made possible by the Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser Chair in Conducting Studies.

Orchestral concerts are supported by the Jack Wolgin Curtis Orchestral Concerts Endowment Fund.

Curtis Opera Theatre is generously supported by the Ernestine Bacon Cairns Trust and the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

Generous support for Curtis New Music Ensemble is provided by the Daniel W. Dietrich II Foundation.

About the Curtis Institute of Music
At Curtis, the world’s great young musicians develop into exceptional artists, creators, and innovators. With a tuition-free foundation, Curtis is a unique environment for teaching and learning. A small school by design, students realize their artistic potential through intensive, individualized study with the most renowned, sought-after faculty. Animated by a learn-by-doing philosophy, Curtis students share their music with audiences through more than 100 performances each year, including solo and chamber recitals, orchestral concerts, and opera—all free or at an affordable cost—offering audiences unique opportunities to participate in pivotal moments in these young musicians’ careers. Curtis students experience a close connection to the greatest artists and organizations in classical music, and innovative initiatives that integrate new technologies and encourage entrepreneurship—all within an historic campus in the heart of culturally rich Philadelphia. In this diverse, collaborative community, Curtis’ extraordinary artists challenge, support, and inspire one another—continuing an unparalleled legacy of musicians who have led, and will lead, classical music into a thriving, equitable, and multidimensional future. Learn more at curtis.edu.