Top Curtis administrator to step down

Elizabeth Warshawer, the Curtis Institute of Music's highly regarded administrative chief, has given notice that she will step down on May 31, 2015.

"The crux of it is that it's time for me to invent the next chapter of my professional career," said Warshawer, 64, who came to the school in 2008 as one-third of a new leadership team, a few months after board chairman H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, now chairman emeritus, and president/chief executive Roberto Díaz. (Lenfest is owner and publisher of The Inquirer.)

"I have been so fortunate to have worked in education, manufacturing, health care, management consulting, at the [Philadelphia] Orchestra, and then this wonderful opportunity to work for Curtis. Now I am going to take a minute to figure out what this next chapter will be, and to be open to the opportunities."

Díaz said that a 10-year strategic plan, due to be approved by the school's board in December, will lead up to the 1924 centennial of the conservatory on Rittenhouse Square. So he and Warshawer had been mulling the question of whether she would want to implement the plan, or leave before it begins.

"Elizabeth has talked to me about the fact that [her departure] is now or in a very long time from now, and that doesn't seem like a realistic time frame for her," he said.

Díaz said the school would take this opportunity to decide whether her replacement should hold the same titles and responsibilities. As executive vice president, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer, Warshawer oversees the administrative aspects of the school. She reports to Díaz, who handles artistic and educational matters.

But his job has also been changing, he said, which affects who will come next as head administrator.

"I spend a lot more time now thinking about what goes on outside the school," he said. "We have talked about the board of trustees better reflecting the student body . . . and if we are going to raise money in Europe, raise money outside of Philadelphia, which we all realize we have to do, it requires my presence in different parts of the world. That's a fairly new development for me, and was certainly not even talked about when I started here. So, if I am gone more, what happens here?"

Although not the school's head, Warshawer has overseen a substantial number of innovations, including creation of the school's first dormitories in Lenfest Hall. The project involved not only fund-raising and construction management, but also easing the large building's presence onto a block of Locust Street populated by small historic brownstones and neighbors who had objected to proposals by the property's previous owners.

"I was very involved in dreaming up Lenfest Hall, and then Elizabeth basically built the thing," Díaz said - on time and under budget. Warshawer also developed business plans to pay for its increased operating costs through a combination of endowment, rentals to outside groups, and new summer programs.

She expanded Curtis' reach with online performances and courses, and helped develop its last strategic plan, which drew more than $158 million in donations. All these accomplishments, said Díaz, brought the school into the 21st century.

Díaz said he hopes a successor is in place in early 2015, so his or her tenure to overlap with Warshawer's. "Managing the day-to-day affairs of the school makes it possible for us musicians to stick to the musical and artistic and educational side of things," he said. "It's been a huge thing she has done for us."