Music Imagination Retreat

Curtis Institute of Music

 Philadelphia, PA

January 9th, 2017

PDF Report

Participants

Paul Bryan

Paul Bryan

Paul Bryan leads a distinguished career as both performer and educator. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Temple University where he studied trombone with Glenn Dodson and Eric Carlson and conducting with David Hayes, Arthur Chodoroff, and Lawrence Wagner, Paul currently serves as Director and Conductor of Bravo Brass – the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra brass ensemble, Music Director of the Philadelphia Wind Symphony, Head Conductor of the Young Artists Summer Program at Curtis Summerfest, Music Director of the Symphony in C Summer Camp, and a faculty member at Temple University and the Curtis Institute of Music. Described by composer Eric Ewazen as a “stunning” interpreter producing performances with “riveting momentum and heartfelt lyricism,” Paul has led concerts with a variety of groups including the wind and brass ensembles of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Rodney Mack Philadelphia Big Brass, and Boyz II Men.

Sought after for his ability to train gifted instrumentalists, Paul pushes his groups to take risks and to make music as opposed to just playing it. Past positions have included Conductor of the Drexel University Orchestra, Conductor of the Philadelphia All-City High School Concert Band, and appearances with the ensembles of the New York Summer Music Festival, Play On, Philly!, and numerous honor groups in the Delaware Valley. A respected member of the Philadelphia area’s musical community, Paul serves as Dean of Faculty and Students at the Curtis Institute of Music where he directs the educational programming and curricular life of one of the world’s foremost conservatories.

Gloria Depasquale

Gloria Depasquale

Gloria dePasquale became a member of the ‘cello section of The Philadelphia in 1977. Currently, she also serves as music advisor to the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, directing and conducting their strong orchestra division (PRYSM) and directing the College/Conservatory Audition Preparation Program. Gloria serves on the Members’ Committee, the Education/Engagement Committee and the Board of Directors for The Philadelphia Orchestra and is also a member of the Board of League Of American Orchestras.

Yumi Kendall

Yumi Kendall

Ms. Kendall joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in September 2004 as Assistant Principal Cellist upon graduation from Curtis, where she studied with David Soyer and Peter Wiley. Ms. Kendall began studying cello at the age of five following the Suzuki method; at age 16, she made her solo debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. Ms. Kendall’s performances at chamber music festivals include Music from Angel Fire, Verbier, Marlboro, Kingston, and Carnegie Hall. Ms. Kendall is founding cellist of the Dryden String Quartet, which formed in 2001, and with that ensemble has performed at the Kennedy Center, Schneider Concert Series, Curtis Alumni Recital Series, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Ms. Kendall has served on the faculties of the National Orchestral Institute, Brevard Music Center, and Miami Summer Music Festival; serves as mentor for the Curtis Institute’s Community Artists Program, and maintains a private teaching studio. Ms. Kendall was the 2013 recipient of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Kuhn Award. Currently, Ms. Kendall is pursuing a Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) at the University of Pennsylvania.

Daniel Lerner

Daniel Lerner

As a teacher, speaker, and strengths-based performance coach, Daniel Lerner is an expert in positive and performance psychologies. His key message is that developing a healthy (and happy!) psychological state has a profound impact on the pursuit of excellence—and he brings this message to students, established and high-potential performing artists and athletes, and numerous Fortune 500 companies and executives. Lerner is a faculty member at New York University, where his class “The Science of Happiness” is currently the largest and most popular non-required course at the school. Following a decade at International Creative Management (where he specialized in the representation and development of young performers) and at 21C Media Group (where he was a co-founder and the director of artist development), Lerner studied closely with renowned sports psychologist Dr. Nathaniel Zinsser—a Director of The Center for Enhanced Performance at the United States Military Academy at West Point—focusing on coaching and performance enhancement techniques employed by professional and Olympic athletes. He holds a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and his first book will be released in Spring 2017 by Little, Brown, and Company.

Ashley Robillard

Ashley Robillard

All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full tuition scholarships, and Ms. Robillard is the Joseph Cairns Jr. and Ernestine Bacon Cairns Memorial Fellow. While at Curtis Ms. Robillard has served on student council for two years and was the President of the Curtis Student Council for the 2015-16 season. During the 2016-17 season, Ms. Robillard will perform the roles of La Chauve-Souris in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Lucia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, and Bianca in Puccini’s La Rondine. She also has the honor to perform as a soloist with Curtis on Tour, singing Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with baritone Dennis Chmelensky and pianist Mikael Eliasen. During her previous seasons at Curtis, Ms. Robillard has performed the roles of Musetta (La bohème), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Pousette (Manon), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), and Tisbe (La Cenerentola). Before attending The Curtis Institute of Music, she has performed as a soloist with the New England Conservatory’s Youth Chorale and Youth Philharmonic Orchestra in Honnegger’s King David. She has also performed in numerous productions at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, including the Fairy Godmother in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillion, and Le Feu and La Chouette in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges. Ms. Robillard also participated in a tour of Die Zauberflöte with the Tuscia Opera Festival/International Lyric Academy in Italy. When not singing Ms. Robillard enjoys strong cups of coffee, an assortment of good books, and spontaneous adventures with friends.

Gene Scheer

Gene Scheer

Mr. Scheer’s work is noted for its scope and versatility. With the composer Jake Heggie he has collaborated on a number of different projects, including the critically acclaimed 2010 Dallas Opera world premiere, Moby-Dick, starring Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab; Three Decembers (Houston Grand Opera), which starred Frederica von Stade; and the lyric drama To Hell and Back (Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra), which featured Patti LuPone. Other works by Scheer and Heggie include Camille Claudel: Into the Fire, a song cycle premiered by Joyce di Donato and the Alexander String Quartet. Mr. Scheer worked as librettist with Tobias Picker on An American Tragedy, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 2005. Their first opera, Thérèse Raquin, written for the Dallas Opera in 2001, was cited by Opera News as one of the ten best recordings of 2002. Other recent collaborations include the lyrics for Wynton Marsalis’s It Never Goes Away, featured in Mr. Marsalis’s work Congo Square. With the composer Steven Stucky, Mr. Scheer wrote the oratorio August 4, 1964. The work, nominated for a Grammy, was premiered by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, Mr. Scheer collaborated with Joby Talbot on the opera Everest, which was premiered by the Dallas Opera. At the Santa Fe Opera in the summer of 2015 did an operatic adaptation of Cold Mountain with composer Jennifer Higdon. This opera won the International Opera Award, presented in London, for the best World premiere in 2015 and was recently nominated for a 2017 Grammy award for best classical composition. Also a composer in his own right, Mr. Scheer has written a number of songs for singers such as Renée Fleming, Sylvia McNair, Stephanie Blythe, Jennifer Larmore, Denyce Graves, and Nathan Gunn. The distinguished documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, prominently featured Mr. Scheer’s song “American Anthem” (as sung by Norah Jones) in his Emmy Award-winning World War II documentary for PBS entitled The War.

Georgie Shreve

Georgie Shreve

Georgia is a composer and writer with degrees from Stanford, Brown, Columbia and PENN. She has studied music theory and composition with composer Howard Cass. Her music has been performed at a number of concert halls including Weill, Zankel, Merkin, Steinway, and Cami, as well as Symphony Space, American Opera Projects, and other venues. Her Piano Quartet won first prize in the CRS Competition and was issued on CD by the Contemporary Recording Society. Her musical works include her Piano Concerto, Fantasia on Celtic Themes, and Prufrock. Man with the Blue Guitar (with paintings by David Hockney) Portraits of the 20th Century (with iconic 20th-century photographs), and Dante’s Paradise (with paintings by Salvador Dali) have been performed in a multi-media format at Zankel Hall. She has also done settings of W.H. Auden, Yeats, Dylan Thomas, Gerard Manley Hopkins and other poets. She has had readings and showcases of her plays and musicals at various theaters including the Daryl Roth 2, the Acorn, the Kirk and the Lion in New York. Her fiction and poetry have been published in the New Yorker, New Republic, and New Criterion among other magazines and she won the Stanford Magazine Fiction Award. She has just completed her novel, White Lies. She lives in New York and has three sons.