An investigation commissioned by the board of directors of the Curtis Institute music conservatory in Philadelphia has uncovered claims of sexual assault and abuse of two dozen former students dating as far back as the 1960s.

The budding musicians were sexually harassed, assaulted and some were even raped by their music teachers and others at the school, they told investigators, reported to a recently established anonymous hotline or wrote about online. All the while, school administrators either did little when confronted with allegations, the investigators said, or were unaware of them because the culture at the Curtis Institute discouraged students from coming forward.

The Investigators presented their findings in a report that was accepted by the board on Tuesday, then released publicly and posted in its entirety on the school’s website.

“Most of these accounts focus on events and practices that occurred more than 20 years ago, and over the last decade Curtis has instituted a range of policies and procedures to protect students from abuse and sexual misconduct,” the board’s official statement said. “That does not diminish the impact of these incidents on the former students and alumni who participated in this review and candidly shared their experiences.”

Violinist’s Story at Core of Curtis Inquiry

The investigation was conducted by the Cozen O’Connor law firm, which the board hired after The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story in July 2019 based on the allegation of a violinist and former Curtis student. Her story, which is detailed in the report and was investigated thoroughly by the law firm, began in 1985 when she enrolled at the conservatory at the age of 14. She was assigned to violin professor Jascha Brodsky and within months he began sexually molesting her and eventually raped her, she says.

The teacher also made veiled threats to the girl about her future at the school, saying “it would be a shame if” she had to leave, she told investigators. At the time, faculty had considerable power at Curtis and students could easily be kicked out at the request of a teacher, the report said.  For that reason, students often kept accusations to themselves rather than risk their future careers.

“Curtis is legendary — and legendarily hard to get into,” a report by National Public Radio explained. The institute only takes 5% of applicants each year, according to U.S. News & World Report, and the entire conservatory only has about 175 students. Composer Leonard Bernstein and pianist Lang Lang are among its alumni. And “all Curtis students receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships … ensur[ing] that no student accepted to Curtis will be unable to attend because of financial need,” the school’s website says.

Despite all that, the young violinist at the core of the sexual abuse investigation reported that Brodsky was molesting her – though she stopped just short of saying he raped her – to then-Dean Robert Fitzpatrick, the report confirmed. That was in 1986.

“[She] said Fitzpatrick ‘kinda snorted’ at her and scoffed, asking, ‘What do you want me to do about it?’,” the investigators report says.

The alleged victim reportedly told the Inquirer that Fitzpatrick also asked her “Oh, for God’s sake, who do you think they’re going to believe? Some 15-year-old kid or someone who has been here for decades?”

Brodsky died in 1997.

Fitzpatrick arranged for the violinist to be assigned to another teacher, spoke privately to Brodsky and, according to the investigative report, warned him about his “overt and inappropriate shows of affection toward some of his female students.” There were no legal requirements for teachers to report allegations of sexual abuse to the authorities at the time, nor any faculty handbook at Curtis, the investigators noted in the report.

The young violinist attempted suicide in her third year at Curtis and then left the school. In 2013, contacted as part of the school’s fundraising efforts, the former student told the school’s alumni director about what had happened to her. In 2019, she spoke out to the Inquirer.

In its statement reacting to the investigator’s report, Curtis’ board of directors said it “recognizes and profoundly regrets the incalculable physical and emotional toll that [the alleged victim]  suffered. … The report makes clear, at multiple points along the road of her harrowing journey, [she] provided opportunities for Curtis and its leaders to respond meaningfully and provide her with support and a chance to aid in her healing. But in each instance the school fell short.”

Other Allegations at the Curtis Institute

In addition to the violinist’s allegations, the investigators reviewed “substantive information” of abuse at Curtis from dozens of former students from the 1960s to the 2010s involving multiple faculty and staff members. Some of the information was given directly to the investigators, some was culled from published reports. One man, a former piano student, wrote in an issue of the classical music magazine Slipped Disc that his Curtis piano teacher raped him in the 1960s when he was eight or nine years old.

Another former student, who attended from 2007 to 2010, told investigators her teacher was “verbally and emotionally abusive to her and others. She said the teacher over-emphasized the importance of sexuality in musical performances as part of his pedagogy, and created a ‘toxic environment’ and ‘culture of sexualization’ in his department,” the report said.

The investigators said they could not determine the “merits or credibility” of most of the other accusations they received, but “what emerged was a powerful picture about the power dynamics in the conservatory setting and its impacts on student well-being and educational opportunities.”

Critical Look at Curtis Institute’s Culture

The violinist and several other former students who made accusations of sexual and psychological abuse against faculty at the Curtis Institute told investigators that coming forward and reporting their experiences was difficult for them if not impossible while they were still attending the conservatory. Those who did report say they were criticized and felt vulnerable to losing their slot at Curtis.

“Many of these accounts sounded a recurrent theme: a reluctance to report abuse driven by the perception that ‘students remained at Curtis at the discretion of their major instrument teacher,’,” Curtis’ Board of Directors statement said. That  “created an unhealthy climate and had a chilling effect on reporting misconduct.”

Moving Forward at the Curtis Institute

Since the publication of the Inquirer article, Curtis officials say they have taken steps to prevent abuse and ensure students have access to the resources and help they need. The school has established what it calls a “Trauma Fund” to provide students with access to counseling services with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. It has also created a hotline for reporting abuse and hired a Title IX coordinator, among other things.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.