Curtis on Tour
The Nina von Maltzahn Global Touring Initiative
Leading artists of tomorrow touring the world today
Curtis on Tour features extraordinary emerging professional artists performing alongside celebrated faculty and alumni. Grounded in Curtis’s “learn by doing” philosophy and steeped in the school’s distinguished history of artistic excellence, this innovative global touring initiative is an integral component of a Curtis education.
For more than 10 years, Curtis on Tour artists and ensembles have delighted audiences around the globe with performances that are “exhilarating from beginning to end” (Washington Post).
Tour offerings include:
- Worldwide tours offered year-round
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Chamber ensembles with diverse and compelling offerings, including: standard instrumentation and programs; unique mixed ensembles performing repertoire that is rarely toured; and new works commissioned specifically for Curtis on Tour
- Large ensembles, including the Curtis Chamber Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, performing with leading international conductors and soloists
- Emerging artists and established alumni performing as soloists with professional orchestras and presenters (see upcoming Professional Engagements)
- Ensembles and soloists representing all Programs of Study at Curtis
Upcoming Tours & Performances
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Summer 2024
Piano Quartet | EuropeRenowned Curtis alumni violinist Shanshan Yao (’08), violist Haesue Lee (’21), cellist Jean Kim (’18), and pianist Pallavi Mahidhara (’10) will embark on a tour of Europe in the spring of 2024. This exciting concert features Indian American composer Reena Esmail’s lush, romantic trio for violin, cello, and piano, Saans, inspired by the Franck Violin Sonata, and the wedding of dear friends, alongside Felix Mendelssohn’s first published composition, the charming Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor. The concert concludes with Antonín Dvořák’s ingenious Piano Quartet No. 2 in E flat major, a bold, colorful work of tremendous beauty that flits between dark and light, the elegance of the Viennese classical style, and the folky playfulness of a ländler waltz.
Summer 2024
Curtis in Nantucket and East Coast TourExtraordinary alumni and faculty from the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music perform audience favorites – from Schubert’s beloved song “The Shepherd on the Rock” and a breathtaking aria from Mozart’s opera The Shepherd King to pieces by legendary Curtis alumni Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, and Nantucket’s own Ned Rorem. Don’t miss these thrilling performances by the next generation of leading artists – soprano Sophia Hunt, clarinetist Sara Han, and pianist Ying Li – performing alongside Curtis President and violist Roberto Díaz.
Fall 2024
Curtis Symphony Orchestra | East CoastDuring our Centennial Season, Curtis Symphony Orchestra will present two special tour performances featuring breathtaking alumni soloists and guest conductors.
Michelle Cann and the Erinys Quartet
Praised as a “pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, Michelle Cann, esteemed Curtis alumna and piano faculty member, will perform an electrifying program with the acclaimed Erinys Quartet, the school’s new fellowship quartet in residence. This concert includes Antonin Dvořák’s thrilling Piano Quintet in A major, one of the finest examples of late Romantic chamber music in the repertoire. The Erinys Quartet, whose members have roots in Estonia, Lithuania, Greece, and the United States, was formed at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
GRAMMY Award-winning guitarist and faculty Jason Vieaux, renowned violist and Curtis President Roberto Díaz, and emerging artists perform a crowd-pleasing program for guitar and strings ranging from Piazzolla to Paganini.
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In addition to national and international tours, Curtis on Tour manages professional performance engagements for Curtis students and recent graduates, providing emerging artists with the matchless experience of appearing with leading ensembles and presenting organizations.
Professional engagements are added on a rolling basis as they are confirmed.
2024
May 1 | Chicago, IL | Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts
Avery Gagliano, pianoMay 3-5 | Galveston, TX | Galveston Symphony
Avery Gagliano, pianoMay 18 | Wakefield, RI| Core Memory Music
Sarah Fleiss, sopranoMay 19 | Upperville, VA | Washington Performing Arts – “Music in the Country”
Elias Ackerly, pianoJune 22 | Columbia, MO | Missouri Symphony
Tiffany Townsend, soprano; Kate Trigg, mezzo; Morgan-Andrew King, bassJuly 16 | Ignacio, CO | Sky Ute Casino Resort
Maya Buchanan, violinJuly 26 | Brevard, NC | Brevard Music Center
Hannah Tam, violinAugust 11 | Lake Placid, NY | Lake Placid Sinfonietta
Maya Buchanan, violinOctober 5 | Wakefield, RI | Core Memory Music
Maya Buchanan, violinNovember 5 | Evanston, IL | Pick Staiger Concert Hall
Maya Buchanan, violin
Past Tours
Since Curtis on Tour was established in 2008, students, faculty, and alumni have performed more than 375 concerts in over 20 countries and 100 cities, across four continents.
Artist share stories and photos from the road, presenters share select video and audio recordings, and local press share concert reviews in this sampling of content from select tours.
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2024: Winds and Strings, United States
2023: Taiwan
2023: Europe
2023: Nantucket and New England
2023: Intimacy of Creativity
2023: Trio Zimbalist
2023: Curtis Symphony Orchestra
2023: Cello Quintet
2023: L’Histoire du Soldat
2022: Eric Owens and Singers from the Curtis Opera Theatre
2022: Soprano and Piano Quartet-Europe
2022: Cello Quintet—U.S.
2021: Flute, Strings, and Piano Virtual Tour—Latin America
2021: Piano Trio—Europe
2021: BROADCAST: Flute, Strings, and Piano—New England
2020: Dover Quartet Virtual Tour—Latin America
2020: BROADCAST: Strings, Guitar, and Voice—New England
2019–20: Vera Quartet and Meng-Chieh Liu, piano—U.S.
2020: Curtis Symphony Orchestra with Osmo Vänskä and Jonathan Biss—U.S.
2019: Woodwinds and Strings Ensemble—U.S.
2019: Flute, Piano, and Strings—Asia
2019: Voice, Strings, and Piano—Europe
2019: Flute, Guitar, and Strings—New England
2019: Clarinet Trio—Latin America
2019: Piano Quartet—Europe
2019: Intimacy of Creativity—Hong Kong
2019: Vocal Quartet—U.S.
2018: Piano Quartet—U.S.
2018: Zorá Quartet—Europe
2018: Leonard Bernstein Centenary Celebration—U.S.
Media
Images
01 - 14 The Curtis Symphony Orchestra closed its February 2020 tour of the United States in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.
02 - 14 Members of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra break from rehearsal at Carnegie Hall in February 2020.
03 - 14 Soloist Jonathan Biss (Piano '01) led a master class at Virginia Tech, among other universities, as part of an East Coast tour with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in Winter 2020.
04 - 14 A clarinet trio performs for a full house in Santiago, Chile in June 2019.
05 - 14 In 2019 Jordan Dodson (Guitar '13), Maria Loudenitch (Violin '18), and cellist Albert Seo performed at the Siasconset Casino, a perennial stop for Curtis on Tour in Nantucket.
06 - 14 A quartet of vocalists, accompanied by faculty pianists Mikael Eliasen and Miloš Repický, performed at the Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco during a Spring 2019 tour. (Photo: Martyn Selman)
07 - 14 Members of the Curtis Chamber Orchestra warm up backstage at Qualcomm Hall in San Diego before a performance in Spring 2015.
08 - 14 A quartet featuring Grammy Award-winning guitarist and faculty member Jason Vieaux performed at venues in Greece and Asia in October 2016. (Photo provided by Sun-ae Kang)
09 - 14 Fiddlefest in April 2017, led by faculty member Ida Kavafian, included a tour stop at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. (Photo: Andrew Lane)
10 - 14 The Curtis Symphony Orchestra performs at Berlin's Konzerthaus during a nine-city European tour in May 2017. (Photo: Kai Bienert)
11 - 14 The Curtis Symphony Orchestra performs at a new venue in Dresden, Germany during a nine-city European tour in May 2017, with alumnus Peter Serkin as piano soloist. (Photo: Oliver Killig)
12 - 14 A mixed ensemble of instrumentalists and vocalists performs at the Gennadius Library in Athens, Greece in September 2017. Curtis on Tour ensembles appear annually at this festival. (Photo: Manos Skoularikos)
13 - 14 A piano quartet performed works by Brahms and Fauré in European venues in May 2019, including the first Curtis on Tour appearance in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo: David Swanson)
14 - 14 Curtis Symphony Orchestra members explore the area following a rehearsal in Dresden in 2012. (Photo: Jennifer Kallend)
Asia Tour: Flute, Piano, and Strings
U.S. Tour: Woodwinds and Strings Ensemble
Europe Tour: Voice and Strings Ensemble
Student Recital: January 2016 in Philadelphia
About Curtis on Tour
Listen
Enjoy a selection of audio recordings, including repertoire performed for Curtis on Tour, as well as works performed by chamber ensembles and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra.
Learn
In addition to touring activities, Curtis faculty and alumni have created several online lectures, free and available on demand at Curtis.edu/Coursera.
Curtis was the first conservatory to offer a massive open online course (MOOC) on Coursera. Since launching in 2013, Curtis courses have reached a global music community of more than 150,000 people in 185 countries.
Press
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Winds and Strings Tour: Fall 2023 and Spring 2024
New York, N.Y.| BlogCritics: December 2023
“[A] lively mix of periods and styles, and a testament to the high quality of Curtis’s program.”
Curtis Symphony Orchestra in the U.S.: Winter 2020
Durham, N.C. | CVNC: February 6, 2020
“The Curtis Symphony Orchestra is a young classical ensemble, uniquely gifted and well-trained, advancing in experience every day. Add a renowned conductor like Vänskä and a world-class pianist like Biss and you have an extraordinary concert experience. Those who braved the rainy, stormy night were richly rewarded.”
Vera Quartet and Meng-Chieh Liu in the U.S.: Fall 2019–Spring 2020
Rockport, Mass. | The Boston Musical Intelligencer: November 11, 2019
“Meng-Chieh Liu…wove magic into every note (or bundle of notes) he sent our way.”
“The [Vera Quartet] made the most of Beethoven’s dramatic contrasts…”
Flute, Guitar, and Strings in New England: July 2019
Kingston, R.I. | Providence Journal: July 24, 2019
The touring ensemble opened the Kingston Chamber Music Festival on July 24, 2019 to great reviews, including this one from the Providence Journal, which characterized the concert as a “virtuosic showdown,” adding that “Piazzolla’s “Histoire du Tango” came to life magnificently” and “[Joshua] Smith gorgeously dispatched the Mozart.”
Clarinet Trio in Latin America: June 2019
Santiago, Chile | CNN Chile: June 26, 2019
President Roberto Díaz appeared on television as part of a tour to Latin America, which included stops in his home country of Chile. (Interview begins at 15:44)
Reñaca, Chile | Tell Magazine: June 2019President Díaz was also featured in print.
Piano Quartet in the U.S.: October 2018
Miami, Fla. | South Florida Classical Review: October 26, 2018
“With their handling of the shifts between determined attacks and tender, blossoming notes, the musicians brought Brahms’ sprawling score to life.”
Piano Quartet in Asia: March 2018
Hong Kong | Chamber Muse: March 30, 2018
“Joined by alumnae pianist Natalie Zhu, the Curtis kicked off the Fauré quartet with turbulent emotion, full of swirling musical ideas.”
Leonard Bernstein Centenary Celebration Tour: Spring 2018
Palm Beach, Fla | Palm Beach Daily News: March 19, 2018
“The quartet did a great job of moving together. In a piece that is easily too sentimental, this group played with the right amount of sincerity.”
String Sextet in Latin America: Fall 2017
Santiago, Chile | El Mercurio: October 21, 2017
“The scherzo, which seems to pay homage to Beethoven’s humor, and the final rondo were exquisite at the hands of this group of teacher and disciples.”
Curtis Symphony Orchestra in Europe: Summer 2017
Bremen, Germany | Bremer Nachrichten: May 24, 2017
“There is no need to mention this brilliant youth orchestra’s flexible modulation and intuitive musicality…They also gave an impressive performance of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Double Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra. Lush sound and subtle rhythmic motor skills led to an electrifying night of music.”
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Curtis students and alumni are making waves throughout the musical world by winning major competitions, appointments, and honors. Learn about recent achievements on the Curtis News page.
Contact
Stay Connected
Join our e-mail list and stay informed about Curtis on Tour performances near you.
General Management
Andrew Lane
Vice President, Touring and Artist Management
(215) 717-3124
andrew.lane@curtis.edu
Booking Inquiries (North America)
Julie Gaitens
Booking Representative
(215) 717-3146
julie.gaitens@curtis.edu
Brayton Arvin
Artist Manager and Booking Representative
(215) 875-4204
brayton.arvin@curtis.edu
Booking Inquiries (Europe)
Julika Castro
Booking Representative, Europe
+49 (0)178-514 43 26
julika.castro@curtis.edu
Booking Inquiries (Latin America)
Angélica Fanjul
Fanjul & Ward
+56 9 7978 2364
fanjul@fanjulandward.com
Orchestra Tours (Worldwide, except North America)
Viola Frankenfeld
HarrisonParrott
+49 (0)89 6797 10484
viola.frankenfeld@harrisonparrott.de
Advancing for Confirmed Engagements
Lingzi Liu
Manager of Touring Operations
(215) 717-3143
lingzi.liu@curtis.edu