Case Study: Curtis Institute of Music achieves long-term preservation and on-demand streaming of 90 years of music with Preservica

Preserving 90 Years of Music with the Curtis Institute

The Curtis Institute of Music, a prestigious conservatory founded in 1924 that trains 175 students and presents more than 100 concerts a year, faced a growing archival crisis: thousands of CDs, tapes, films and videotapes—some dating back to the 1920s—were decaying, taking up physical space and becoming vulnerable to format obsolescence. With each recital generating large audio/video files (up to several gigabytes) and limited on-site IT resources, Curtis needed a secure, scalable way to preserve, stream and manage access to both public archives and copyright-restricted student recordings.

Curtis implemented Preservica Cloud Edition on AWS to ingest, preserve and stream its audio-visual collections while enforcing role-based access controls for sensitive materials. The cloud solution removed time-consuming CD/DVD post-production and campus shipping, integrated with ArchivesSpace for easier discovery, reduced the risk of permanent loss from media decay and obsolescence, and gave students and staff faster, secure on-demand access—improving productivity and protecting the Institute’s 90+ years of musical heritage.

Curtis Institute of Music

Molly O’Brien

Media and Metadata Librarian