Grammy-nominated violinist to mentor students at Kaufman Music Center

Violinist and composer Curtis Stewart will teach a Mentor Session on Feb. 27 with students from the Lucy Moses School and the Special Music School at the Kaufman Music Center (KMC), where he is an artist-in-residence this season. 

According to its website, KMC is a non-profit performing arts and education organization in NYC that “stimulates appreciation of and participation in music through music performance and education in ways that awaken creativity, advance innovation, and create a sense of wonder among performers, students, teachers, and the public at large.”

Many people may be surprised to learn that  Stewart was born in Helsinki, Finland, although he grew up in New York City.

Discussing his family background, Stewart shared that his mom, Elektra Kurtis, was of Greek ethnicity but was born in Poland, and his grandmother was an opera singer at the Warsaw National Opera.

“My mom went to school at the Sibelius Academy in Finland.  My dad, Bob Stewart, is a jazz tuba player with family based in Louisiana, and was on tour and happened to be playing with my mom’s brother (and now my uncle!),” he said.

He was constantly hanging out with all his parents’ wild, touring, cool, improvising friends, and he wanted to be just like them.  “I loved the concepts behind composition and the thrill of making music in the moment.  I find that making moments for that type of creation on “Classical” stages challenges the norms of what we think of as Classical music, and who can do what in those spaces,” he explained.

Growing up in NYC, Stewart is grateful his parents made space for him to be a normal kid. “I was such a nerd. I practiced, played video games, aggressively inline skated (I broke my collarbone doing a flip at a skatepark…), and went to after-school orchestra rehearsals. I had a tight community of other kids to be around,” he added.

Stewart has been composing music since he was a little kid. He loved that he could hide from my parents, dream about music, nerd out on fun sounds, and be alone.

Not until several people publicly announced on international media outlets that Stewart was not a classical composer that he saw composition as rebellion. Now, I see it as my mission to make it known that all creativity has the kernels of ‘excellence’ within it. It all belongs as long as the one creating brings their soul and heart and curiosity and joy to it,” he stated.

Stewart currently has six Grammy nominations. The first two, “Freedom and Faith” (2019) and “What is American” (2022), were with his longtime collaborators, PUBLIQuartet, an improvising new music string quartet. On working with the group, Stewart says, “It is a challenge, joy, and soul search making music with them and finding the authenticity between our 4-way Venn diagram.”

“OF POWER“ (2021) and “Of Love“ (2023) were both recorded in his living room. They were a deep expression of personal need – one regarding finding my own voice as a black classical musician, the other mourning the passing of my inspiring mother,“ he continued.

The recent nominations were for the Julia Perry violin concerto. Perry was an inspiring composer who would have been 100 years old in 2024.

Stewart wants those participating in the session on Thursday to have fun! He also wants them to know:

“That classical music is alive – that working on a piece of music means being in dialogue with that composer, not just executing their musical will. That playing music relates to the music of our time, and ourselves.”

Stewart will also be performing his original, 24 American Caprices, during its World Premiere, at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall on April 25. It is part of his upcoming project, Seasons of Change, which reflects on the daily existential effect of climate and climate change on the unhoused.

“It focuses on the recorded voices of the unhoused community in Phoenix, Arizona, whose lives, due to redlining and an economy/lack of shaded area, are in jeopardy every day from May through September.  These folks make climate change real, a human issue, and not a concept.  I hope this work also makes them human to the eyes of those not currently experiencing homelessness,“ he stated.

In addition, Stewart emphasized, “The immediate effects of climate change are distinct in every region of the globe – in NYC, it means flooding; in LA, it means fire control.  I hope that the reality this work expresses helps inspire those with the will and power to make slight changes to our infrastructure to protect its citizens from the oncoming danger.“

Stewart also teaches at the Juilliard School and serves as the artistic director of the American Composers Orchestra (ACO).

He said both places are inspiring and intimidating because they force him to do his best in every interaction. The most creative, specific, hardworking folks pass through both organizations — people who want to have a real impact. “They all lift me up to be my very best,” he said.

He works with students on improvisation in classical settings, ultimately creating music that references and expresses their own musical inheritance. He then brings that music to concert stages and contextualizes its meaning for classical audiences.

“If every classical musician brought their whole self to the stage, those stages would by necessity be relevant and vital for the expression of contemporary times.  It would be a mirror, a place for catharsis, a place for real empathy – in addition to a place to connect with our history and the history of other countries and eras,“ he said.

Discussing his legacy, Stewart says he wants to keep creating, inspiring others to be brave, to create in the face of oppression and hardship, to remove the layers of history’s burden through knowledge of craft and of self, and through the act of creation.

“I hope that will help us release some of the harmful patterns of interaction we have developed as humans.  I hope it brings joy and ownership of the pains and hardships in our lives and celebrates the held times,“ he continued.

The session will be at 1 p.m., and tickets start at $15. Those interested in attending can purchase them here: https://tickets.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/5750/5835.