Curtis Institute of Music

institute opened, it included two distinct divisions: a preparatory division for 400 students and a conservatory for 200 students. Tuition was five hundred dollars, and the school opened with 357 students. Mary Bok became the conservatory’s first president, a position she would hold until 1969. Johann Grolle served as the first school director for one year, William E. Walter became director in 1925 and Josef Hofmann, head of the piano department, became director in 1927. The institute added a library in 1925 with over 5,000 volumes. Other notable original faculty included conductor Leopold Stokowski, violinist Carl Flesch, pianists David Saperton and Isabelle Vengerova, singers Marcella Sembrich and Andreas Dippel, cellist Michel Penha, and flutist William Kincaid.
Under Josef Hofmann as director, Curtis made several new changes to advance the school's standards and publicize the school. Hofmann reduced enrollment to ensure that students would receive individualized attention. Curtis initiated weekly radio broadcasts …