The Program

Stravinsky: Pulcinella
Martin: Ballade
Griffes: Poem
Milhaud: Le Boeuf sur le Toit

The Artists

The Curtis Chamber Orchestra draws its members from the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, comprising over 100 players, all students at the Curtis Institute of Music, and has performed under the batons of Christoph Eschenbach, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, and Wolfgang Sawallisch, among others.  It has also appeared as orchestra-in-residence at the Rencontres Musicales d’Evian in France and participated in Switzerland’s Verbier Festival in 1998 and 1999.  As part of the Institute’s 75th-anniversary celebrations in 1999, the orchestra made a 13-city tour of Germany, Austrai, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland with conductor André Previn and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.  Curtis is considered one of the finest music conservatories in the world, and its graduates have made musical history as solo performers.  In today’s top 25 American and Canadian orchestras, 226 players of Curtis-trained, with 72 holding principal chairs.

Conductor, violinist and eminent pedagogue Joel Smirnoff joined the Juilliard String Quartet in 1986. He replaced Robert Mann as first violinist of the quartet in 1997 and retired from the group in 2008.  In recent years, Mr. Smirnoff has become a much sought-after conductor.  He studied conducting with Gustav Meier and with composer Ralph Shapey and attended the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School, where he later became chair of the violin department.  Mr. Smirnoff has been president of the Cleveland Institute of Music since 2008.  For more information on Joel Smirnoff visit www.cim.edu.

Canadian-born flutist Jeffrey Khaner has been Principal Flute of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1990. From 1982 to 1990 he was principal of the Cleveland Orchestra, and has also served as principal of the New York Mostly Mozart Festival, the Atlantic Symphony in Halifax, and as co-principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony.  A noted soloist, Mr. Khaner has performed concerti with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada and Asia collaborating with conductors including Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Franz Welser-Most.  As a recitalist, Mr. Khaner has appeared on four continents with pianists Charles Abramovic, Christoph Eschenbach, Lowell Liebermann, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Hugh Sung and many others.  Mr. Khaner is a founding member of the Syrinx Trio (with fellow Philadelphia Orchestra principals Roberto Diaz, viola and Elizabeth Hainen, harp).  A graduate of the Juilliard School, he was named to the faculty as Flute Professor in 2004, holding the position formerly held by his mentor, the late Julius Baker.  Since 1985 he has also been a faculty member at the Curtis Institute.  For more information on Jeffrey Khaner visit www.iflute.com.