Curtis was just entering high school when two conductors decided the big Key West art scene was noticeably devoid of a professional music ensemble and so resolved to form a pops and a symphony orchestra. They formed a special position for Curtis to play bassoon, making him the youngest performer and the only local playing in the orchestra. Devoid of the multitudes of a larger metropolitan area, the island community of Key West did not have the steady pool of local musicians to fill the orchestra. As a result, the orchestra was an ever-changing group; musicians would fly in from all over the country to play for different festivals or concerts.
The unique nature of the Key West Orchestra allowed Curtis, as the only real permanent member, to rub elbows with some of the most accomplished musicians in the nation. With their friendship and under their guidance, he stoked his passion for music, but he also became aware of the difficulties of living a life in music. “They all said, ‘You’re really great, you obviously have a passion for playing music, but I would be [remorseful] if I didn’t tell you how difficult it is to make a living doing it,’” recalled Curtis.
From Math to Music
Upon entering Amherst College in the fall of 2004, Curtis almost immediately got involved in music, becoming the principal bassoonist in the orchestra, as well as a member of the College’s only secular co-ed a capella group, DQ. The struggling musicians Curtis had befriended as a teen in Key West, however, had made an impression on him. He warily avoided the music major, though he peppered a few music courses into his exploration of other subjects. “I was actually intending to be a math major,” said Curtis. “I wanted to be an engineer or lawyer.”
For two years, Curtis suppressed his interest in a musical career and held on to the idea of a more traditional job after college. Courses like Music 23: Twentieth Century Music with Associate Professor of Music David Schneider, however, whetted his appetite to do otherwise, until Curtis finally made the switch. “I never looked back,” said Curtis. By the end of sophomore year, “I’d basically decided that one way or another, I was going to have a life in music.” Making up for lost time, Curtis began taking all the music courses that interested him and now has enough credits to fulfill two music majors, when including all lessons and performance credits.
As a senior, Curtis embarked on a three-part music honors project, which focused on his developing interest in orchestral conducting. The first two involved performances. Honing his skills as a pianist, he teamed up with his teacher, Alissa Leiser to perform one of his favorite pieces, Shubert’s “Fantasy in F minor,” for four hands. Then, in culmination of conducting lessons with Director of Instrumental Music Mark Lane Swanson, Curtis directed the Amherst College Symphony Orchestra for the first half of this year’s spring concert, conducting Charles Ives’s “The Unanswered Question” and John Adams’ “The Wound-Dresser” (with a professional opera soloist).
The third and most substantial part of his honors project was a written interpretive analysis of one of the first atonal compositions, Arnold Schoenberg’s “The Book of the Hanging Gardens.” Schoenberg’s 15-part song cycle, according to Curtis, is notoriously difficult. “It’s had a difficult time finding an audience because it’s not immediately pleasing to the ear,” said Curtis. “It doesn’t rely on the traditional rules of music that immediately ensure beautiful sounds.” Although Curtis’ advisor, Chair of Music Jenny Kallick called the study “ground-breaking,” Curtis is more modest. “The piece has an expressive palate of sounds that takes a little bit of work to appreciate,” said Curtis. “My hope is that a person who reads my thesis would have a good entryway to it.”
The Baton Beckons
As the principal bassoonist, Curtis occupied an important role in the Symphony Orchestra. “Everyone in the woodwind section counts on his leadership,” said fellow orchestra member Alexandra Lee ’09. In addition to playing bassoon in the orchestra, he also explored and made key contributions to the chamber music program, playing piano. Under the tutelage of Amherst piano instructor Alissa Leiser, Curtis improved his piano skills and participated in master classes at the highest level, most memorably with international legend Leon Fleisher.
In addition to his involvement in instrument based organizations Curtis was a member of DQ for two years, acting as its director during his sophomore year. He was also a regular presence on the set of the school’s annual Interterm musicals, as a member of the orchestra in the pit. During his junior year, he was the assistant musical director for the Interterm show, “City of Angels.” Curtis had to coach a group of singers in a highly complicated four-part harmony and also played keyboard for the production, an exciting challenge since he had never considered himself a jazz pianist.
When Curtis made the decision his sophomore year to pursue a serious career in music, he was forced to drop some of his other activities and to focus on a new challenge: conducting. “I had always revered conductors,” explained Curtis, “not just because they were leaders, but because they guided the interpretive process and were charged to inspire a group of musicians toward their singular conception.”
In the latter part of his sophomore year, Curtis began taking conducting classes with “Maestro” Mark Lane Swanson. Curtis added what Kallick calls a “probing musicality and expressive intellect” to Swanson’s requirements of heavy preparation, background historical knowledge and expressive purpose. After some promising work, Swanson convinced Curtis to consider a career in conducting. “He is the only student in my seven years as director of instrumental music to whom I have entrusted leadership of the orchestra in both rehearsal and performance,” said Swanson.
The summer after sophomore year, Curtis took a workshop with Kenneth Keisler, conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and professor at the University of Michigan. The summer before his senior year, Curtis toured Vienna, city of the music greats, as part of an international chamber music festival. In Vienna, Curtis played piano and bassoon, as well as conducted.
Throughout his senior year, Curtis continued to conduct, working on a number of pieces, including Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” and others, to general praise. “His conducting of the orchestra this year has really impressed me,” said Lee. “He is always very well prepared and knows how to communicate what he wants to the orchestra—a very difficult thing to do.”
Continued Dedication
to Music
Come senior year, droves of the College’s most ambitious and motivated students are seduced by the power and privilege of high-powered corporate jobs. The pressure to pursue the high-paying, high-powered job was not lost on Curtis, though he had long ago decided on a career in music. “It does feel difficult to pursue the arts in this school,” said Curtis, who nevertheless maintains that the music department is one of the strongest departments on campus. With fewer than 10 majors per year, the department is unique in the extraordinary amount of individual attention it can provide each student. “Not that my department hasn’t given me a good education, but I don’t believe the administration takes any interest in the arts at this school,” said Curtis, who pointed out the absence of any real concert hall on campus, as well the lack of plans to renovate the Arms Music Building.
With Commencement looming, Curtis proudly finds himself poised to take the bold leap into the uncertain, deliciously bohemian life of a musician. Thanks to his stint with the Key West Pop’s Orchestra, he is under no pretensions that such a life will conform to the sultry, romantic ideal it is made out to be, yet he chooses his path happily and willingly.
His proverbial leap is made slightly less uncertain by virtue of the number of job offers he has already received and to which he has already responded. He recently found out he would be the assistant conductor for the Fairfield Community Chorale, which is based in Connecticut and performs in New York City. Curtis called the position a “good, stable job that will provide a lot of great experience.” It will also give him the opportunity to travel to Europe again for a summer tour in Denmark and Sweden. In addition, Curtis is excited to continue collaborating with Janna Baty, Professor of Voice at UMass and renowned opera singer. Curtis is also thrilled to be performing with close friend and fellow Amherst graduate Julia Fox ’07, a singer with whom he performed on her own senior honors thesis.
Much More than a
Musician
For Curtis, music set the tone of his childhood and was the backdrop to every family event. “Music was always in my house,” said Curtis, the third of four brothers. For Teddy, Clinton, Daniel and Doran, music was “a family activity we all took part in,” thanks to their mother, a singer and pianist, and their father, a singer and bass-player. While Curtis’ oldest and youngest brothers pursued careers outside music, his older brother, Clinton, decided to focus on his passion for songwriting, after performing for a year on the Broadway national tour of “Man of La Mancha.”
Curtis put his musical talents to a higher use this past January and collaborated with Clinton on a benefit concert back at home in Key West. The concert aimed to raise money for a local charity that provides day care and health care services to underprivileged children on the island. The “diverse evening of music” included half classical piano solos played primarily by Curtis with guest appearances by Clinton and Fox. The second half focused on more popular songs and show tunes, along with some of Clinton’s original compositions. The brothers and their friends ended up raising over $13,000 for the cause.
The generosity and selflessness revealed by such a project comes as no surprise to Curtis’ closest friends and colleagues. “He’s a better friend than musician and that’s saying something,” said close friend Evan Bruno ’08. Indeed, the musicians that have played under him in the orchestra and the professors that have taught him during his four years almost universally acknowledge the void he will leave within Amherst’s community, yet they also express excitement for his future. Said Swanson, “Despite his manifold musical gifts—and he is, heart and soul, a musician, perhaps the only student in my time here whom I believe should pursue a professional career as a performing musician—what most sets Daniel apart is his kindness, level-headedness, generosity, patience and humanity.