Gary Graffman with the Curtis Institute of Music Orchestra in a 2006 concert at Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall. Photo by Ron Cortes/Philadelphia Inquirer.
In last Sunday’s (12/28) Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns writes, “While the classical music world knew Gary Graffman as a distinguished visiting concert pianist, Philadelphia was his launching pad and artistic home over roughly eight decades. He was both a student and president at the Curtis Institute of Music, nurturing young talents to international fame before his death on Saturday in New York. He was 97…. The New York City-born pianist arrived at Curtis at age 7. He graduated at age 17 and played roughly 100 concerts a year between the ages of 20 and 50 before retiring from touring due to a compromised right hand. Diagnosed with focal dystonia (a neurological disorder), he went on to premiere works for the left hand by Jennifer Higdon and William Bolcom. Mr. Graffman returned to Curtis as a teacher in 1980, became director in 1986, and the president of the conservatory in 1995, with a teaching studio encompassing nearly 50 students, including Yuja Wang and Lang Lang among others…. Graffman had a top-of-the-line career. He recorded much of the romantic-era piano literature … with some of the great orchestras of the United States…. Curtis thrived during Mr. Graffman’s tenure…. In 2019, violinist Lara St. John came forward with reports of faculty rape during her mid-1980s student years at Curtis. Investigations concluded that Mr. Graffman had failed to take appropriate action on her reports of sexual assault…. No doubt, Mr. Graffman will be most remembered as a pianist…. [He] played with a deep respect for the letter of the score.”
