It has become an Athenian institution that heralds the coming of autumn and has fanatical supporters. That’s right, because it’s not so little to be able to enjoy the performances of the most talented young musicians in the world before they spread their wings and “fly” to the top. The reason for Curtis On Tour with students from one of the best music academies in the world based in Philadelphia, USA, which makes a stop in Athens every end of September as part of its tour. In fact, this year the European tour started from our city and will continue in October in Germany (Konzerthaus in Berlin), Italy (Salone Dugentesco in Vercelli) and Spain (Auditori Teulada Moraira in Alicante and Fundación Juan March in Madrid).

Since the autumn of 2015, we have been honored to see them in the Gennady Library thanks to the Greek-German Schwarz Foundation, which has now acquired a place in Athens with the aim of promoting intercultural dialogue, and also to Baroness Nina. von Maltzan, who has supported here and for many years the international tour of Curtis students around the world. The Curtis Academy has earned a worldwide reputation for its focus on the constant “live” interaction of its students and recent graduates with the public. They “learn by playing” and offer classical music lovers genuine youthful passion, freshness, but also that slight shyness that characterizes them as they are still at the start of their career. However, they were applauded in Athens and won the love of the public for all four performances, which were also broadcast on the Internet. From September 27 to 30, hundreds of happy Athenians saw the soprano and string ensemble, composed of graduates of the famous Academy of Music, in the Gennady Kohen Hall. They performed “Nature Songs” commissioned by Curtis to Academy instructor Richard Danielpour specifically for the tour. This new work is based on Antonio Vivaldi’s sonnets written to accompany The Four Seasons.

Curtis graduates Andrea Obiso, Timofey Petrin, Pallavi Mahindara, Elena Peroni, Joseph Tancredi, Heisu Lee and Milos Repski performed works by Mozart, Brahms, Schubert, Debussy, Arvo Perth, Richard Strauss, Fernando Obrador and literally became idols for young people. momentum in their game. But the most touching thing about Gennady’s classical music evenings is that there are many young Greek musicians in the audience who come to see their contemporaries up close.