Gifted Young Muscians from Prestigious Conservatory To Perform on Historic Asolo Theater Stage
Sarasota, FL – Feb. 15, 2008 – Future musical stars along with legendary alumni from The Curtis Institute of Music will perform at the Historic Asolo Theater on March 20, 2008, 8:00 p.m. as part of their 2007-2008 The Curtis Institute of Music on Tour program. The Curtis Institute is one of the most prestigious and respected conservatories in the world with alumni including Leonard Bernstein, Gian Carlo Menotti and Peter Serkin.
“It is not often that our patrons have the opportunity to hear classical musicians from an institute that has produced such greats as Bernstein,” said Dwight Currie, Curator of Theater Programming at the Ringling Museum of Art. “Not only are music lovers hearing exceptional emerging talent, they are hearing them perform a demanding repertoire that is rarely mastered.”
The Curtis Insitute of Music’s mission is to train exceptionally gifted young musicians for careers as performing artists. Curtis’s philosophy on musical training is that students "learn most by doing" and to that end Curtis presents more than 130 public orchestra concerts, operas and solo and chamber music recitals a year. The effectiveness of this practice is evident by Curtis alumnus accomplishments as solo performers, composers, and conductors along with talents such as Bernstein, Menotti and Serkin. The Curtis Institute of Music is operated under a charter granted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
"The Curtis Institute is the finest and most prestigious of all the music conservatories in this country," said June LeBell, June LeBell, renowned music critic and former classic music broadcaster for New York City’s famed WQXR station. "Musicians from all over the world attempt to win a place at Curtis but only the finest 160 or so make it into the school - - all on full scholarship - - to join the roster of alumni from Bernstein, Barber and Menotti to members of the Guarneri Quartet, Judith Blegen, Anna Moffo, Lukas Foss, Ned Rorem, Peter Serkin, Jorge Bolet, Joseph Silverstein, Lynn Harrell, Leonard Rose and more than a third of the principal players in the "Big Five" American orchestras: Philadelphia, New York, Cleveland, Boston and Chicago. If Juilliard is the Cadillac of conservatories, Curtis is the Bentley."
The Curtis Institute of Music on Tour is a new initiative that brings the culture and philosphy of the internationally-acclaimed Curtis Institute of Music to audiences across the nation. This season Curtis On Tour presents a quartet of future leading musicians who will present chamber music alongside distinguished Curtis alumni violist Roberto Díaz ('84), Curtis's current president, and cellist Margo Tatgenhorst Drakos ('99). The quartet will present Strauss’ Sexted from Capriccio Op. 85, Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Dvorák’s String Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 97.
The program on the Historic Asolo Theater stage is sponsored by Bob and Diane Roskamp.
Ticket information for The Curtis Institute on Music on Tour may be found at www.ringling.org. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Historic Theater Box Office at 941.360.7399 or at www.ringling.org.