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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Brilliant Opera Collection: Gluck Demofoonte
Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocca
Classical - Released by Brilliant Classics on Nov 27, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Giulio Cesare, HWV 17
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Karina Gauvin, Il Complesso Barocco, George Frideric Handel
Classical - Released by naïve on Nov 20, 2012
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Radamisto, HWV 12a
Joyce DiDonato, Patrizia Ciofi, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Nov 7, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Il Floridante, HWV 14
Marijana Mijanovic, Vito Priante, Joyce DiDonato, Sharon Rostorf-Zamir, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on Jan 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Drama Queens
Joyce DiDonato, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Oct 8, 2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rossi - Lotti : Madrigals
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Mar 29, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haendel : Ariodante (Intégrale)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on May 2, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Rodelinda
Simone Kermes, Marijana Mijanovic, Steve Davislim, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Cantate Italiane / Bononcini: Cantate Pastorali
René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Lucy Van Dael, Wieland Kuijken, Alan Curtis, Robert Kohnen
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Drama Queens
Joyce DiDonato, Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by EMI on Oct 8, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clérambault: Orphée & Médée
Rachel Yakar, Reinhard Goebel, Wilbert Hazelzet, Charles Medlam, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jul 29, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Motezuma, RV 723
Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on Jan 1, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Amor e gelosia: Operatic Duets.
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jun 7, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel : Berenice
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jun 11, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alan Curtis - Great Handel Operas
Georg Friedrich Händel, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Aug 8, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti: Lettere amorose
Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco, Anna Bonitatibus, Patrizia Ciofi
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Steffani: Duetti Da Camera
Daniela Mazzucato, Carolyn Watkinson, Paul Esswood, John Elwes, Wouter Möller, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on Jan 1, 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck : Ezio (Intégrale)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Aug 20, 2011
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sesto libro de madrigali (1611)
Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis
Classical - Released by Glossa on Jan 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Händel: Lotario
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on Aug 2, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Fernando, Re Di Castiglia
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 29, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo