The Curtis Symphony - 6abc Loves the Arts

April 12, 2015 (WPVI) -- With only 100 enrolled students, the Curtis Institute of Music holds the distinction of being the most difficult school to get into in America ... more so than Harvard, Yale and even Julliard. Some Curtis Institute alum are returning to Philadelphia to lead the next crop of musical stars in the school's season-ending concert.

"It's pretty amazing; it was my dream for a long time to come to this school," says Stephen Tavani, a Curtis student and Co-Concert Master of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, "It's just a leadership role within the orchestra, but you're also part of it and part of the team."

For their final concert of the season, he and his classmates will be joined by Curtis alum and conductor Rossen Milanov.

"He's a very clear conductor, and I think he's very honest," says Tavani, "he's done a lot of work with Curtis in the past. We had a reading with him earlier this year, and yeah, I'm really excited to work with him again."

The ensemble will also be joined by a violinist who graduated from Curtis and went on to win the hearts of audiences worldwide

"Leila Josefowicz was actually one of my violin heroes when I was younger," says Tavani, "It's almost like she's speaking to you from what she's playing. But then to watch her, it's even more of an experience because she's so dramatic and really captivating to watch."

She'll be playing a violin concerto by Zimmermann. The program also features works from Ravel and Prokofiev and gives the students the opportunity to play in the Kimmel Center, the venue of the pros.

"It's amazing every time we walk on that stage because, as students, we go see concerts there all of the time," says Tavani, "It's really cool to be on the other side of that and be looking out at the audience and get to share what we have to say from the stage."

The Curtis symphony Orchestra's final concert of the year is April 26th at 2pm in Verizon Hall. For tickets go to www.TheArtsinPhilly.org.