Curtis Stewart

A multifaceted violinist and composer of exceptional range, Curtis Stewart moves fluidly across jazz, classical, and contemporary idioms as a solo performer. Serving as Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra while holding a professorship at The Juilliard School, he first presented his own recording with the 2016 release Of Colors. Four Grammy nominations recognized his two projects with PUBLIQuartet, Freedom & Faith from 2019 and What Is American from 2023, with additional nods for the solo discs Of Power in 2021 and Of Love in 2023, the latter honoring his late mother, violinist Elektra Kurtis.

Born in Helsinki in 1986 while his mother, jazz vocalist Elektra Kurtis, pursued studies at the Sibelius Academy, Stewart entered the world during her encounter with jazz tuba player Bob Stewart, then touring alongside saxophonist Arthur Blythe. Raised in Manhattan amid his parents’ extensive record library spanning symphonic repertoire, jazz, and Greek rebetika, he trained at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester, completing dual degrees in violin performance and mathematics. He later obtained a master’s degree in music education from Lehman College. Teaching has stayed central to his practice; for a decade he instructed music theory and string orchestra at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts before joining the Juilliard faculty, where his courses encompass chamber music, improvised chamber music, and cultural equity and performance practice. In 2010 he reached the finals of the Concert Artists Guild Competition. During the 2010s he contributed violin to numerous classical, jazz, and pop sessions, among them Hanson’s 2013 album Anthem. His initial solo statement, Of Colors, juxtaposed jazz standards and original pieces with music by Webern and J.S. Bach.

Commissioned works by Stewart have been created for the Seattle Symphony, the Royal Conservatory of Music in London, and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo alongside members of the New York Philharmonic. In 2022 he assumed leadership of the American Composers Orchestra. Further solo recordings arrived with Of Power in 2021 and Of Love in 2023, each earning a Grammy nomination in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category. He maintains active partnerships across genres as a member of PUBLIQuartet and the Mighty Third Rail, and has collaborated with saxophonist Henry Threadgill, the Silk Road Ensemble, musicians from the International Contemporary Ensemble, and the JACK Quartet, among many others. In 2024 he performed on and served as executive producer for the Bright Shiny Things release American Counterpoints: Julia Perry & Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.