Alan Curtis
Equally known for his live performances and musicological work in establishing new performing practices for early opera, Alan Curtis enjoyed a fruitful career. A scholar as well as a conductor and harpsichordist, Curtis edited several important works with an appreciation for authenticity, effective performance, and -- in the case of opera -- stage-worthiness. Several of his best recordings were issued in the 1990s and the new millennium.
Curtis was born on November 17, 1934, in Mason, Michigan. He studied at Michigan State University, attaining a bachelor's degree in 1955. His graduate study at the University of Illinois was interrupted (after the completion of his master's program) by two years of tutelage under Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. Following his work with the master harpsichordist, organist, and conductor, Curtis returned to the University of Illinois to complete his doctorate, awarded in 1963. By this time, he had already published several scholarly texts that had attracted the interest of the growing period-performance movement. His doctoral thesis on Sweelinck quickly became a standard text on that composer's works for keyboard, and later formed the basis for Curtis' more extended volume, published in 1969.
Curtis was hired as a teacher at the University of California at Berkeley in 1960, advancing to full professor by 1970. During that decade, Curtis took advantage of increasing opportunities to put into practice the results of his research; he achieved a reputation as an accomplished harpsichordist and, increasingly, as a conductor of 17th and 18th century opera. A recording of Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea was heralded as an antidote to less-authentic realizations. Equally, it demonstrated just how vital period performance could be when shorn of Romantic-period excesses. While continuing his instructional work and music research in academia, Curtis performed as a conductor and harpsichordist both in America and Europe. In 1979, he founded the Amsterdam-based ensemble Il Complesso Barocco, performing and recording many operas with the group. A 1980 La Scala debut conducting Handel's Ariodante led to other significant engagements in Italy. In 1984, Curtis conducted Gluck's Armida (not often heard then) in Bologna, and in 1989, he led Cimarosa's even rarer Gli Orazi ed I Curiazi in Rome.
Curtis' recordings with Il Complesso Barocco continued well into the new century. Among these are Handel's Tolomeo (2008), Alcina (2009), and Giulio Cesare (2012). Curtis and his group also collaborated on albums by high-profile performers including Joyce DiDonato's Drama Queens and Max Emanuel Cencic's Fantastic Cencic. Curtis died on July 15, 2015, in Florence, Italy.
© Erik Eriksson /TiVo
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Antonio Vivaldi (Opere teatrali, vol. 18) : Catone in Utica
Full Operas - Lançado por naïve classique em 26 de ago. de 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brilliant Opera Collection: Gluck Demofoonte
Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocca
Classical - Lançado por Brilliant Classics em 27 de nov. de 2020
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Giulio Cesare, HWV 17
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Karina Gauvin, Il Complesso Barocco, George Frideric Handel
Classical - Lançado por naïve em 20 de nov. de 2012
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Radamisto, HWV 12a
Joyce DiDonato, Patrizia Ciofi, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 7 de nov. de 2005
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Il Floridante, HWV 14
Marijana Mijanovic, Vito Priante, Joyce DiDonato, Sharon Rostorf-Zamir, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Lançado por Archiv Produktion em 1 de jan. de 2007
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossi - Lotti : Madrigals
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 29 de mar. de 2013
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Drama Queens
Joyce DiDonato, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 5 de out. de 2012
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haendel : Ariodante (Intégrale)
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 2 de mai. de 2011
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Rodelinda
Simone Kermes, Marijana Mijanovic, Steve Davislim, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Lançado por Archiv Produktion em 1 de jan. de 2005
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Cantate Italiane / Bononcini: Cantate Pastorali
René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Lucy Van Dael, Wieland Kuijken, Alan Curtis, Robert Kohnen
Classical - Lançado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) em 1 de jan. de 1992
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Drama Queens
Joyce DiDonato, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Lançado por Emi em 8 de out. de 2012
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clérambault: Orphée & Médée
Rachel Yakar, Reinhard Goebel, Wilbert Hazelzet, Charles Medlam, Alan Curtis
Classical - Lançado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) em 29 de jul. de 2022
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Amor e gelosia: Operatic Duets.
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 7 de jun. de 2004
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Motezuma, RV 723
Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Lançado por Archiv Produktion em 1 de jan. de 2006
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel : Berenice
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 11 de jun. de 2010
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti: Lettere amorose
Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco, Anna Bonitatibus, Patrizia Ciofi
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 1 de jan. de 2003
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alan Curtis - Great Handel Operas
Georg Friedrich Händel, Alan Curtis
Classical - Lançado por UME - Global Clearing House em 8 de ago. de 2020
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Porpora, N.: Opera Arias
Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis, Karina Gauvin
Classical - Lançado por ATMA Classique em 15 de ago. de 2009
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tolomeo E Alessandro Ovvero La Corona Disprezzata
Classical - Lançado por Universal Music Spain S.L. em 1 de jan. de 2010
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Ezio
Ann Hallenberg, Karina Gauvin, Sonia Prina, Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Lançado por Archiv Produktion em 1 de jan. de 2009
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck : Ezio (Intégrale)
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 20 de ago. de 2011
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo