A violist of international
reputation, Roberto Díaz is president and CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music,
following in the footsteps of renowned soloist/directors such as Josef Hofmann,
Efrem Zimbalist, and Rudolf Serkin. As a teacher of viola at Curtis and former
principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Díaz has already had a
significant impact on American musical life and continues to do so in his dual
roles as performer and educator.
As a soloist, Mr. Díaz collaborates
with leading conductors of our time on stages throughout North and South
America, Europe, and Asia. He has also
worked directly with important 20th- and 21st-century composers, including
Krzysztof Penderecki, whose viola concerto he has performed many times with the
composer on the podium and whose double concerto he premiered in the United
States; and Edison Denisov who invited Mr. Díaz to Moscow to work on his viola
concerto. Ricardo Lorenz, Roberto Sierra, and Jennifer Higdon have all written
concerti for Mr. Díaz.
As a frequent recitalist, Mr. Díaz
enjoys collaborating with young pianists, bringing a fresh approach to the
repertoire and providing invaluable opportunities to artists at the beginnings
of their careers. In addition to performing with major string quartets and
pianists in chamber music series and festivals worldwide, Mr. Díaz has toured
Europe, Asia, and the Americas a member of the Díaz Trio with violinist Andrés
Cárdenes and cellist Andrés Díaz. The Díaz Trio has recorded for the Artek and
Dorian labels.
Mr. Díaz's recordings on the Naxos
label with pianist Robert Koenig include the complete works for viola and piano
by Henri Vieuxtemps and a Grammy-nominated disc of viola transcriptions by
William Primrose. Also on Naxos are Brahms sonatas with Jeremy Denk and
Jonathan Leshnoff's Double Concerto with violinist Charles Wetherbee and the
Iris Chamber Orchestra led by Michael Stern. On the New World Records label is
a live recording of Mr. Díaz's performance of Jacob Druckman's Viola Concerto
with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra. On the Nimbus label is
a recording of the Walton Viola Concerto with the New Haven Symphony and
William Boughton. On the Bridge Records label are works for viola and orchestra
by Peter Lieberson with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Scott Yoo.
Since founding Curtis on Tour eight
seasons ago, Mr. Díaz has taken the hugely successful program to North and
South America, Europe and Asia, performing chamber music side-by-side with
Curtis students and other faculty and alumni of the school. His tenure as
president of Curtis has also seen the construction of a significant new
building which doubled the size of the school's campus; the introduction of a
classical guitar department and new conducting and string quartet programs; the
launch of Curtis Summerfest, summer courses open to the public; and the debut
of an online stage called Curtis Performs. In the fall of 2013 Curtis became
the first classical music conservatory to offer free online classes through
Coursera.
Also under Mr. Díaz’s leadership,
Curtis has developed lasting collaborations with other music and arts
institutions in Philadelphia and throughout the world and established a dynamic
social entrepreneurship curriculum, supported by a prestigious Advancement
Grant from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. Designed to develop the
entrepreneurial and advocacy skills of young musicians, this curriculum
includes the project-based Community Artist Program (CAP) and post-graduate
Curtis ArtistYear Fellowship Program. Curtis was the first higher-education
arts institution to join ArtistYear and respond to the challenge issued by the
Aspen Institute’s Franklin Project: to foster a 21st-century national service
system, with a goal of one million service-year positions created by 2023.
Mr. Díaz received an honorary
doctorate from Bowdoin College and was awarded an honorary membership by the
National Board of the American Viola Society. In 2013 Mr. Díaz became a member
of the prestigious American Philosophical Society founded by Benjamin Franklin.
As a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, he was selected by Music Director
Christoph Eschenbach to receive the C. Hartman Kuhn Award, given annually to "the
member of the Philadelphia Orchestra who has shown ability and enterprise of
such character as to enhance the standards and the reputation of the
Philadelphia Orchestra." Mr. Díaz received a bachelor's degree from the
New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Burton Fine, and a
diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music where his teacher was his
predecessor at the Philadelphia Orchestra, Joseph de Pasquale. Mr. Díaz also
has a degree in industrial design.
In addition to his decade-long tenure as
principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he performed the entire
standard viola concerto repertoire and gave a number of Philadelphia Orchestra
premieres, Mr. Díaz was principal viola
of the National Symphony under Mstislav Rostropovich, a member of the Boston
Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, and a member of the Minnesota Orchestra under Sir
Neville Marriner. Mr. Díaz plays the ex-Primrose Amati viola.