“When COVID-19 hit and … Curtis Institute of Music … students sat at home taking lessons online, the three historic buildings that form Curtis’ ancestral home underwent a startling renovation,” writes Peter Dobrin in Thursday’s (3/10) Philadelphia Inquirer. “The elaborate, white-oak-paneled space has been largely restored to the way it looked when it was a private mansion—grand, open, and spare. If the public perceives the spaciousness as an invitation, that’s just the signal school leaders were aiming to send. ‘It is a change philosophically for the school. There’s no question that we want to be a more open and accessible place,’ said Larry Bomback, Curtis administration senior vice president…. The project came with a $15 million price tag … and included replacing practice-room window units with modern heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning … and some sprucing up of Field Concert Hall…. The Media and Innovation Lab … is a techy answer to the larger existing black-box opera theater…. The opening of Lenfest Hall more than a decade ago blew some dust off the institution, and this renovation … makes available the space to imagine what the future can be for classical music.”
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