Curtis Burris has taught bass for many years at the Chautauqua Institution. I was with Kate Jones and ran into Curtis as he was chatting with Virginia Dixon on the streets of Ithaca. Kate is a former student of Curtis, and she set up this interview for the following day.
As it turns out, Curtis and I have a strangely large amount in common. We both:
- went to Northwestern
- taught at DePaul
- played the Lithuanian Opera in Chicago
- subbed in the Lyric Opera and Grant Park Symphony
- played in Milwaukee (he was in the symphony and I played in the ballet)
Curtis shares a ton of hilarious tales from the orchestra trenches and offers a wonderful perspective on teaching. This conversation was a ton of fun!