Curtis Stewart

media release: Mead Witter School of Music Changemaker Series. $15.

Praised for “combining omnivory and brilliance” (The New York Times), four-time GRAMMY Award-nominated violinist and composer Curtis Stewart translates stories of American self determination to the concert stage. As a solo violinist, composer, Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra, professor at The Juilliard School, and member of award-winning ensembles PUBLIQuartet and The Mighty Third Rail, he realizes a vision to find personal and powerful connections between styles, cultures and musics. Stewart’s 2023 album of Love., a tribute to his late mother Elektra Kurtis-Stewart, has been nominated under Best Instrumental Solo in the 2024 GRAMMY Awards.

As a soloist, Curtis Stewart has been presented by Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Cal Performances, Washington Performing Arts, Virginia Arts Festival, and the 2022 GRAMMY Awards, among many others. His 2021 album Of Power (Bright Shiny Things) was nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo.

Stewart has been commissioned to compose new works by the Seattle Symphony, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall’s Play/USA, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and members of the New York Philharmonic, The Knights, La Jolla Music Society, Sybarite5, the New York Festival of Song, Newport Classical Festival, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Eastman Cello Institute, among others. Among his recent commissions, he composed The Famous People, five recompositions of Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances, for a premiere by violinist Gil Shaham with the Virginia Symphony in March 2023.

An avid teacher, Curtis Stewart currently teaches at The Juilliard School and the Perlman Music Program, and for 10 years led all levels of music theory and orchestra at the Laguardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts in NYC. Learn more at www.curtisjstewart.com