The Curtis Symphony Orchestra's April concert will feature a Curtis trained conductor, two Curtis trained soloists and the work of a Pulitzer Prize winning composer who's on the Curtis faculty.
The concert opens with Brahms double concerto for violin and cello with soloists Juliet Kang and Efe Baltacigil, both Curtis graduates who've become world renowned musicians.
Becky Anderson, Violinist, Curtis Symphony Orchestra said, "I think it's a wonderful experience for them to be able to come back and play with the orchestra that they played in."
Philadelphia composer Jennifer Higdon has won Grammy's and a Pulitzer Prize. The Symphony will play her Blue Cathedral, a piece Curtis commissioned in 1999 to celebrate the school's 75th anniversary. It's become one of the most performed contemporary orchestral works in the world.
"It's not very often that we actually have a living composer sitting next to us that we can ask questions about and try to understand exactly what she meant on the page and she can actually tell us," said Anderson.
The concert will be conducted by Curtis alum Robert Spano who also led the ensemble 13 years ago when Higdon's Blue Cathedral premiered.
The program closes with Bartok's groundbreaking and immensely popular Concerto for Orchestra that makes everyone in the symphony a star.
"Every instrument in the orchestra gets highlighted throughout the piece in the same way that a soloist for a concerto would be highlighted so each, each individual section sort of has their moment to shine," added Anderson.
The concert is set for April 23rd at the Kimmel Center. For ticketing info, go to Curtis Institute of Music.
