Overtones: Fall 2016

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MEET THE ALUMNI seasons she covered Mr. van Zweden for every concert. Only five weeks into her tenure and with less than 24 hours’ notice, she substituted for him in Shostakovich’s massive eighth Symphony. “Did I just do that?” she asked herself in disbelief afterward. Critics gave her glowing endorsements, noting her technical and interpretive excellence. another fill-in, for the late Nikolaus harnoncourt with the Chamber Orchestra of europe at the Styriarte Festival in austria, resulted in an invitation from the festival to return in 2016. Over two seasons in Dallas, Ms. Canellakis conducted some 60 concerts of her own, not counting the times she was called on to fill in for the music director and visiting conductors. In Spring 2016 she won the coveted Sir Georg Solti Conducting award, open to young conductors with a future in both orchestra and opera. With invitations multiplying for guest appearances, she regretfully stepped down from her Dallas position—“a most unfortunate announcement,” lamented one local critic—and arrived at Curtis to conduct Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in May. Only five weeks into her tenure in Dallas, she substituted for Jaap van Zweden in Shostakovich’s massive eighth Symphony. Critics gave her glowing endorsements. PRECISE FREEDOM at Figaro rehearsals Ms. Canellakis was characteristically clear: explaining her tempi in detail, honing the sound of the orchestra, and encouraging eye contact with the singers. Opera student elena Perroni, one of two sopranos who sang the role of Susanna, recalls her approach as “very precise, but within that precision somehow she gave us a sense of freedom. She allowed the two casts to be very different. We didn’t have to fit into a box.” Bass-baritone thomas Shivone, who sang Figaro, adds: “Karina was very aware that she was in control, but she didn’t use that power unnecessarily and she showed a rare humility, a sense that there is always so much more to strive for.” Ms. Canellakis put her stamp on the production in more subtle ways, too, notes lisa Keller, a Curtis opera and voice coach who played recitative harpsichord for the production. “at first she took out almost all the harpsichord and cello continuo that accompanied the recitative, leaving only the barest harmonic skeleton, so that the singers would build a natural speech-like pattern themselves. then she restored the continuo bit by bit.” at the performances this intense, graceful, and energetic leader communicated as much with her expressive face as with her arms, body, and baton. She looked younger than her 34 years, but her authority was that of a sophisticated maestro. after the Curtis performances, Ms. Canellakis made her final appearances in Dallas, then led the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Concentus Musicus Wien. On her agenda for the coming season are debuts in Stockholm, Birmingham (U.K.), toronto, and Milwaukee, as well as the world premieres of two new operas. her love of the violin undiminished, she still plays. It’s the very life that Simon rattle predicted for her. Diana Burgwyn is a Philadelphia-based writer whose articles have appeared in Overtones, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Symphony, among other publications. WHY CHOOSE CURTIS? —Karina Canellakis More Reasons at www.curtis.edu/WhyChooseCurtis “So many reasons! Because it’s small, it’s intimate. It’s free. Because it’s the best music school in the world. … The people you meet as a student here will be your people forever. “The new building is incredible. When I was a student, we rehearsed in the old hall. If we played a Shostakovich symphony in there, it was deafening. And I’d have been a much healthier person if we’d had a dorm and cafeteria—I was eating tuna out of a can! It’s great for foreign students too, because they have the camaraderie of living in a dorm together.” PHOTO: TODD ROSENBERG 30 OVertONeS Fall 2016
NOtatIONS NOtatIONS alUMNI 1940s MARJORIE CHAUVEL (Harp ’45) is celebrating her 70th year of teaching harp at Stanford University. 1950s In May MARIE TRACY (Violin ’59) retired as the orchestra director of the Millburn Middle School (N.J.), where she taught for 33 years. Her teaching career spanned four decades. 1960s In June LAMBERT ORKIS (Piano ’65) and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter presented concerts in Europe, including benefit concerts in Luxembourg for the SOS Children’s Villages in Syria and in Leipzig for the Leipzig Refugee Council. They appeared at the Lucerne Festival in August. A tour to Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea is planned for October. LLOYD SMITH (Cello ’65) and NANCY BEAN (Violin ’81) are founding members of the Wister Quartet, which is celebrating its 30th season. Their upcoming concerts on Philadelphia’s 1807 & Friends series will feature DAVID CRAMER (Flute ’75), MARCANTONIO BARONE (Piano ’82), CYNTHIA RAIM (Piano ’75, ’77), and ANNE SULLIVAN (Harp ’81). Alumni may share news of recent professional activities and personal milestones by e-mail to alumnirelations@curtis.edu or by post to Laura Sancken, Curtis Institute of Music, 1726 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA 19103. Notes are edited for length and frequency. DANIEL EBY (Voice ’66) teaches voice at the New School of Classical Vocal Studies in Toronto, an organization he founded in 1985. Daniel founded the Cabbagetown Classical Youth Choir, a communityoriented training program open to young singers of all income levels. In June CRAIG SHEPPARD (Piano ’68) performed Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 at the Royal College of Music in London and at the Jerusalem Music Center. In September, he repeated the program at the Royal Norwegian College of Music in Oslo. Over the summer he led the seventh annual Seattle Piano Institute at the University of Washington, and performed at the Methow Valley and Orcas Island chamber music festivals. 1970s JAMES ADLER’s (Piano ’73, Composition ’76) Daughters of Music was premiered in February in Fort Worth, presented by Sigma Alpha Iota. Tonu Kalam with Gil Shaham In October TONU KALAM (Conducting ’73) led a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with soloist Gil Shaham in Memorial Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The performance with the UNC Symphony Orchestra was part of a year-long Gil Shaham residency sponsored by the Carolina Performing Arts series. During the summer DORIS LEDERER (Viola ’76) celebrated her 20th year at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Maine. Also over the summer, she presented master classes at Wuhan Conservatory and the Qingdao and Xi’an international music festivals in China. 1980s Krista Bennion Feeney In September KRISTA BENNION FEENEY (Violin ’83) is the violin soloist for a performance of The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, part of a concert conducted by Simon Rattle at St. Thomas Church in New York. The concert honors the memory of John Scott, music director and organist at Saint Thomas for 11 years, who died unexpectedly in 2015. MICHAEL KANNEN (Cello ’83), who is the director of chamber music at the Peabody Conservatory, has formed the Cooperstown Quartet with his wife, violist Maria Lambros, Curtis alumna HYE-JIN KIM (Violin ’06), and her husband, Ara Gregorian. In February and March KETTY NEZ (Piano ’83) gave performances of her Balkan folk-based compositions in Ketty Nez lecture-recitals at the University of Iowa, Ball State University, and Amherst College. In March she participated in the symposium “Why Prokofiev, Why Now?” at the University of California— Berkeley, presenting her new opera-in-progress Lina and the Wolf, about Sergei Prokofiev’s first wife, Lina Prokofiev. PAUL BRANTLEY (Composition ’85) was commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra to compose a cello concerto, The royal re:volver, performed in December by Eric Jacobsen and conducted by Kenneth Kiesler. In May, RIEKO AIZAWA (Piano ’94) and flutist Alexandra Sopp devoted their entire Brooklyn Public Library chamber concert to Paul’s chamber music. The Kansas City Cello Quartet, including LAWRENCE FIGG (Cello ’85) premiered Paul’s Sir Tristram, violer d’amores at the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Festival. MARK RUSSELL SMITH (Conducting ’87) led an international collaborative project centered on the study and performance of Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion involving the University of Minnesota, where he is artistic director of orchestral studies, and the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany. Students and faculty from both sides of the Atlantic combined for performances in Minneapolis and Germany in March. In May PASCALE DELACHE-FELDMAN (Double Bass ’88) premiered John McDonald’s uprights with the Master Singers of First Parish Church in Lexington, Mass.; and Eric Sawyer’s Depth Charge with EMMANUEL FELDMAN (Cello ’88) at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass., where she is a member of the faculty. In November EMMANUEL FELDMAN (Cello ’88) gave a master class at the Manhattan School of Music and was a guest cello teacher at the Peabody Institute. In May he presented a faculty recital at New England Conservatory featuring premieres written for him. In August the Borromeo String Quartet premiered RUSSELL PLATT’s (Composition ’88) Mountain Interval in Russell Platt Woodstock, N.Y. The work pays tribute to the poetic world of Robert Frost and the musical world of late Beethoven. Russell continues to work as classical music editor at The new Yorker. AVNER ARAD (Piano ’89) gave a master class at New York University in April. OVertONeS Fall 2016 31
Page 1 and 2: Vol. XXXXI, No. 1 Fall 2016 A Perso
Page 3 and 4: COntents SPRING 2016 AT CURTIS Oppo
Page 5 and 6: NOteWOrthy “transformational” $
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Page 9 and 10: MEET THE FACULTY Jason Vieaux Mr. V
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Page 17 and 18: Con NINA BARONESS VON MALTZAHN’S
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