Questions about Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia?

Question

Does anybody know the maximum age limit to enter Curtis, esp. for voice/opera?

And is Curtis for undergraduates only? But howcome in their websites, they also mention about graduate students too?

Just asking. Thanx. Oh, and I appreciate if you could also provide me with links/proof to back-up your answer.

Answer 1

I auditioned for Curtis a few years back, and spent the last several years doing Opera Chorus work with several people that work there.  There is, according to their website no official age limits.  The website mentions graduate students because they offer a bachelors degree, a masters degree and various performance certificate programs.  As they say, "Admissions decisions are based solely on merit. Students are accepted for study at Curtis exclusively on the basis of their artistic talent and promise." Your age should be appropriate to the degree for which you are applying.  That being said, the students I saw there tended to be young.  THe undergrads were right out of highschool, the masters students were right out of their undergraduate programs, and the performace certificate students were just out of a masters program.  Be aware that this might be the single most difficult music school to get into in the country.  When I was doing my masters degree, my voice teacher also taught at Curtis.  He said that they will only take a certain number of any voice type.  For example, if they have three tenors in the program currently, they will not take any more, regardless of how outstanding their audition was.   I don't mean to discourage you from applying.  Even though I did not get into Curtis, auditioning there was an excellent experience.

Answer 2

I'm pretty sure Curtis has grad students as well as undergrads. I don't know about an age limit but I'd be surprised if they had one since it's a college and they don't tend to have age limits. I realize that opera might be a special case. I'd call just to be sure.

I interview for a PR job there once a while back. I didn't know much about classical music, but I always figured I could learn and/or research. The interviewer didn't think so.