Overtones: Fall 2018

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Transforming Figures
Roberto Díaz PHOTO: LEE MOSKOW
On the back cover of this issue is an
eighty-year-old photo that makes me smile.
A ten-year-old pianist concentrates on some
thorny etude or other, under the benevolent
watch of a grandmotherly teacher. The student
is our beloved Gary Graffman. The teacher
is his Curtis mentor, the iconic Isabella
Vengerova, in an uncharacteristically
placid pose.
Gary has brilliantly sketched Vengerova’s
volcanic personality in his autobiography,
I Really Should Be Practicing. Though her
domineering methods would probably raise
eyebrows today, her devotion to her students
and her towering influence were never in
doubt. She transformed young prodigies
into mature pianists of individuality and
profound artistry, and those pianists
acknowledged their debt ever after.
Gary himself has been transforming
young pianists at Curtis for four decades
now. To see him in full teaching mode is
a marvel. He is caring, nurturing, respectful,
demanding much but also allowing each
musical soul to emerge as an individual.
The range of artists he has guided testifies
to his extraordinary gifts as a teacher—and
so do the words of his former students and
his colleagues in this issue, as we prepare to
celebrate Gary’s 90th birthday with a tribute
concert by the Curtis Symphony Orchestra
on October 28.
Transforming figures: the Curtis faculty
has always been filled with them. Indeed,
you meet them in each issue of Overtones—
deeply dedicated teachers like Jeanne McGinn,
whose probing poetic vision inspires our
young musicians in their liberal arts courses;
or David Ludwig, who delights in connecting
our students to living composers; or Mikael
Eliasen, leading the peerless learn-by-doing
laboratory that is the Curtis Opera Theatre.
Others in our orbit have had that
transforming power, too, though wielded
in a different way. Gerry Lenfest, whom we
lost over the summer, was deeply devoted
to Curtis, and I was proud to call him both
a friend and a colleague. In his eight years
at the helm of our board of trustees, his
commitment to our students and our mission
shone brightly—and with the enveloping
warmth of that marvelous smile. The concern
that Gerry and his wife, Marguerite, felt for
the welfare of our young musicians led to
Lenfest Hall, which has profoundly shaped
their daily lives. His generosity was expressed
in support for varied initiatives and wise
counsel, always motivated by a desire to
fill a gap, to address a pressing need, to truly
help. He was a transforming figure for Curtis,
in his own inimitable way.
Under the influence of such figures,
our students flourish, branching out and
blossoming in new and sometimes surprising
directions that are also captured in every
issue of Overtones. They take on full-length
operatic roles before they leave their teens.
They compose works that incorporate live
electronics or even virtual reality. They
become transforming figures themselves.
Just like the young prodigy in the
photograph.
Roberto Díaz
President
2 OVERTONES FALL 2018