Curtis Symphony Orchestra & Curtis Opera Theatre: "Ravel, Dukas, and More" (Photo Roundup)
On Sunday, November 6, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and the Curtis Opera Theatre opened the 2022–23 season in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Cultural Center with a glorious night of French music. Curtis’s Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow Jacob Niemann led the first performance of the evening with a spirited reading of Paul Dukas’s wildly popular symphonic tone poem, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, internationally renowned music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra and New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and mentor conductor at the Curtis Institute of Music, then took the podium and led the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and members of the Curtis Opera Theatre in a selection of French operatic jewels by Charles Gounod (Roméo et Juliette), Claude Debussy (Pelléas et Mélisande), and Jules Massenet (Werther).
The concert’s first half concluded with the prison scene and final trio from Gounod’s Faust, featuring a special guest appearance by internationally renowned bass-baritone Eric Owens, director of vocal studies and the Curtis Opera Theatre, as the sinister Méphistophélès.
The evening closed with two exhilarating works by Maurice Ravel, conducted by Maestro Nézet-Séguin—Mother Goose Suite, a charming set of storybook miniatures, and his ravishing romantic “choreographic symphony,” Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2.
Check out the highlights below from photographer David DeBalko!
(L-R) Olivia Smith, Joseph Tancredi, Ben Schaefer, Katie Trigg, Eric Owens, Juliette Tacchino, Evan Gray, Miloš Repický, and Ruby Dibble.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in a rapturous performance of Ravel’s ‘Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2’.
Jacob Niemann conducts the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in a spirited reading of Dukas’s ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’.
Mezzo-soprano Ruby Dibble sings Stéphano’s aria from Gounod’s ‘Roméo et Juliette’.
A bird’s eye view of the extraordinary Curtis Symphony Orchestra.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Ben Schaefer and Juliette Tacchino in the Act III Tower scene from Debussy’s ‘Pelléas and Mélisande’.
Soprano Juliette Tacchino and members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in a selection from Debussy’s ‘Pelléas and Mélisande’.
(L-R) Horn players Marcus Shaw and Jack Bryant.
Bass-baritone Eric Owens as the sinister Méphistophélès, in the Act IV final trio from Gounod’s ‘Faust’.
The double bass section of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra: (L-R) Hanxiao Deng, Christian Luevano, Marguerite Cox, William McGregor, Dimitrios Mattas, Tobias Vigneau, and Jason Henery.
The Curtis Symphony Orchestra on the stage of Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Cultural Campus.
The Curtis Symphony Orchestra bassoon section: (L-R) Luis Marquez Teruel, Preston Atkins, Daniel Matsukawa (faculty), Kahlan Yenney, and Diego Peña.
Mezzo-soprano Katie Trigg performing Charlotte’s Letter Scene from Act III of ‘Werther’.
Tenor Joseph Tancredi as the title character in the final trio from Gounod’s ‘Faust’.
Soprano Olivia Smith as Marguerite in the Act IV prison scene from Gounod’s ‘Faust,’ with members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra.
