The
Juilliard School, located at the
Lincoln Center for the Performing ArtsLincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City.-Tenant organizations:Lincoln Center serves as home for 12 arts organizations:*Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, is a
performing artsThe performing arts are those forms of art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
conservatory. It is informally identified as simply
Juilliard, and trains about 800 undergraduate and graduate students in
danceDance is a sport and art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
,
dramaDrama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a collective...
, and
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
.
In 2007, the school received 2,311 applications for admission, of which 149 were admitted for a 6.45% acceptance rate.
History
The school was founded in 1905 as the
Institute of Musical Art. It was formed on the premise that the United States did not have a premier music school and too many students were going to Europe to study music. At its formation, the Institute was located at Fifth Avenue and 12th Street. In its first year, the institute enrolled 500 students. It moved in 1910 to Claremont Avenue in Morningside Heights, to a new Neoclassical building now occupied by the
Manhattan School of MusicThe Manhattan School of Music is one of the world's leading music conservatories located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
.
In 1920, the Juilliard Foundation was created, named after textile merchant Augustus D. Juilliard, who bequeathed a substantial amount for the advancement of music in the United States. In 1924 the foundation purchased the
Vanderbilt familyThe Vanderbilt family is a significant international family with Dutch origins, who were highly prominent during the 1800s due to the family patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt, the tenth wealthiest person in history, who created railroad and shipping empires...
guesthouse at 49 East 52nd to start the
Juilliard Graduate School. In 1926 it merged with the
Institute of Musical Art under a common president the
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
professor
John ErskineJohn Erskine was a U.S. educator and author, born in New York City. He graduated from Columbia University .Professor Erskine was employed at Columbia and Amherst...
. The schools had separate deans and identities. The conductor and music-educator
Frank DamroschFrank Heino Damrosch was a German-born American music conductor and educator.He was born in Breslau, and came to America with his father, Dr. Leopold Damrosch, in 1871, having already studied music under Dionys Pruckner and Vogt. He studied in New York under Von Inten and his father...
continued as the Institute's dean, and the
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n pianist and composer
Ernest HutchesonErnest Hutcheson was an Australian pianist, composer and teacher.Hutcheson was born in Melbourne, and toured there as a child prodigy. He later travelled to Leipzig and entered the Leipzig Conservatorium at the age of fourteen to study with Carl Reinecke and Bernhard Stavenhagen, a pupil of Franz...
was appointed dean of the Graduate School. In 1937, Hutcheson succeeded Erskine as president of the combined institutions, a position he held until 1945. As of 1946, the combined schools were named
The Juilliard School of Music. The president of the school at that time was
William SchumanWilliam Howard Schuman was an American composer and music administrator.-Life:Born in the Bronx in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft...
, the first winner of the
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City....
for musicThe Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...
. In 1951, the school added a
danceDance is a sport and art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
division.
William Schuman graduated from
Columbia's Teachers CollegeTeachers College, Columbia University is a top ranked graduate school of education in the United States...
(BS-1935, MA-1937) and attended the Juilliard Summer School in 1932, 1933 and 1936. While attending Juilliard Summer School, he developed a personal distaste for traditional music theory and ear training curricula, finding little value in counterpoint and dictation. Shortly after being selected as President of The Juilliard School in 1945, William Schuman created a new curriculum called "The Literature and Materials of Music" (L&M) designed to be taught by composers. L&M was Schuman's reaction against more formal theory and ear training, and as a result did not contain a formal structure. The broad mandate was "to give the student an awareness of the dynamic nature of the materials of music." The quality and depth of each student's education in harmony, music history or ear training was dependent on how each composer-teacher decided to interpret this mandate. Many questioned the quality of L&M as an approach to teach the fundamentals of music theory, ear training and history.
William Schuman resigned his position as President of The Juilliard School after being elected President of Lincoln Center in 1962.
Peter MenninPeter Mennin was an American composer and teacher. He directed the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, then for many years ran the Juilliard School, succeeding William Schuman in this role...
, another composer with directorial experience at the Peabody Conservatory, was elected as his successor. Mennin made significant changes to the L&M program--pulling out ear training and music history and hiring the well known pedagogue Renée Longy to teach
SolfegeIn music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
. Mennin hired
John HousemanJohn Houseman was an English actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
to lead a new Drama Division and oversaw Juilliard move from Claremont Avenue to Lincoln Center, effectively dealing with financial setbacks and delays.
Dr.
Joseph PolisiJoseph Polisi is the president of the Juilliard School, a position he has held since 1984 which he assumed upon the death of his predecessor, Peter Mennin. Son of William Polisi , he was instrumental in the construction of the Juilliard Residence Hall, and has focused his tenure on "community...
became President of Juilliard in 1984 after Peter Mennin died. Polisi's many accomplishments include philanthropic successes, broadening of the curriculum and establishment of dormitories for Juilliard's students. In 2001, the school established a
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
performance training program. In September 2005,
Colin DavisSir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor.-Career:Davis studied the clarinet at the Royal College of Music in London, where he was barred from taking conducting lessons owing to his lack of ability at the piano...
conducted an orchestra which combined students from the Juilliard and
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
's
Royal Academy of MusicThe Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
at the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
PromsThe Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington, London...
, and in 2008 the Juilliard Orchestra embarked on a highly successful tour of China, performing concerts as part of the Cultural Olympiad in
BeijingBeijing is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China...
,
SuzhouSuzhou is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction...
, and
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
under the expert leadership of Maestro
Xian ZhangXian Zhang is a Chinese American conductor.As a child, Xian Zhang began to learn music with her mother on a piano built by her father. She continued her music studies at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She began conducting studies at age 16, and received her bachelor's and...
.
Juilliard Manuscript Collection
In 2006 Juilliard received a
troveA treasure trove may broadly be defined as an amount of gold, silver, gemstones, money, jewellery, or any valuable collection found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the heirs...
of precious music manuscripts from the billionaire collector and financier
Bruce KovnerBruce Stanley Kovner is an American businessman. He is the founder and Chairman of Caxton Associates, LLC, a hedge fund that trades a global macro strategy and is considered amongst the worlds top and largest 10 hedge funds with an estimated $14 billion under management...
. The collection includes autograph scores, sketches, composer-emended proofs and first editions of major works by
MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
,
BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
,
BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, of the Electorate of Cologne and...
,
BrahmsJohannes Brahms , German composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
,
SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic...
,
ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He was one of the great masters of Romantic music....
,
SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
,
LisztFranz Liszt was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher....
,
RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer of Impressionist music known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
,
StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of...
,
CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, he was widely known as "the dean of American composers". Copland's music achieved a balance between modern music and American...
and other masters of the classical music canon. Many of the manuscripts had been unavailable for generations. Among the items are the printer's manuscript of Beethoven's
Ninth SymphonyThe Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral" is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire and is considered one of Beethoven's greatest masterpieces.The symphony was the first example of...
, complete with Beethoven's hand-written amendments, that was used for the first performance in Vienna in 1824; Mozart's autograph of the wind parts of the final scene of
The Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by Beaumarchais was at first banned in Vienna...
; Beethoven's arrangement of his monumental
Große Fuge for piano four hands; Schumann's working draft of his
Symphony No. 2The Symphony in C major by German composer Robert Schumann was published in 1847 as his Symphony No. 2, Op. 61, although it was the third symphony he had completed, counting the B-flat major symphony published as No. 1 in 1841, and the original version of his D minor symphony of 1841 The Symphony...
; and manuscripts of Brahms's
Symphony No. 2The Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73 was composed by Johannes Brahms in the summer of 1877 during a visit to Pörtschach am Wörthersee, a town in the Austrian province Carinthia. Its gestation was brief in comparison with the fifteen years which Brahms took to complete his First Symphony...
and
Piano Concerto No. 2The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 by Johannes Brahms is a composition for solo piano with orchestral accompaniment. It is separated by a gap of 22 years from the composer's first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near...
. The entire collection has since been digitized and can be viewed online.
The Pre-College Division
The Pre-College Division teaches students enrolled in
elementaryAn elementary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America...
, junior high, and
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
. The Pre-College Division is held on every Saturday from September to May in The Juilliard Building at Lincoln Center.
All students study
solfegeIn music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
and
music theoryMusic theory is the field of study that deals with how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It identifies patterns that govern composers' techniques. In a grand sense, music theory distills and analyzes the parameters or elements of music – rhythm, harmony , melody,...
in addition to their primary instrument. Vocal majors also must study diction and performance. Similarly, pianists must study piano performance. String, brass and woodwind players as well as percussionists also partake in orchestra. The Pre-College has two orchestras, the Pre-College Symphony (PCS) and the Pre-College Orchestra (PCO). Placement is by age. Students may elect to study conducting, chorus, and chamber music.
The Pre-College Division began as the "Preparatory Department" within the Institute for Musical Art. Lincoln Center forced Juilliard to abandon the Preparatory Department as a condition of joining the Lincoln Center Campus, because it created the impression of sub-professional quality. The then-current President of Juilliard, Peter Mennin, resurrected the Preparatory Department as the Pre-College Division, with Olegna Fuschi as its Director. The Fuschi/Mennin partnership allowed the Pre-College Division to thrive, affording its graduates training at the highest artistic level (with many of the same teachers as the college division), as well as their own commencement ceremony and diplomas. Following Fuschi, directors of Juilliard's Pre-College Division included Linda Granito and composer Dr. Andrew Thomas. The current Artistic Director of Juilliard's Pre-College Division is pianist
Yoheved KaplinskyYoheved "Veda" Kaplinsky is an award-winning classical pianist, lecturer and professor of music at the Juilliard School...
.
The Pre-College Division gives Juilliard an important role in training the most talented young musicians at the highest musical standards. Juilliard Pre-College's graduates are counted amongst professional musicians, educated concert goers and financial supporters of classical music.
Performing ensembles at Juilliard
The Juilliard School has a variety of ensembles, including
chamber musicChamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
,
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
,
orchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
s, and
vocalSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
/
choralA choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together is called a choir or chorus...
groups. Juilliard's orchestras include the Juilliard Orchestra, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Juilliard Theater Orchestra and the Conductors' Orchestra. The Axiom Ensemble is a student run and managed group dedicated to larger 20th century works.
In addition, several ensembles of Juilliard Faculty, called Resident Ensembles, perform frequently at the school. These groups include the
Juilliard String QuartetThe Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York. The original members were Robert Mann and Robert Koff on violin, Raphael Hillyer on viola, and Arthur Winograd on cello; Current members are Joel Smirnoff and Ronald Copes on...
, the
American Brass QuintetWhen the American Brass Quintet gave its first public performance on December 11, 1960, brass chamber music was still relatively unknown to concert audiences...
and the New York Woodwind Quintet.
Fundraising
The Juilliard Second Century Fund aims to raise $300 million to enable The Juilliard School to sustain its leadership position in performing arts education well into the school’s next century. Expanded and renamed on the Juilliard’s 100th anniversary, the fund supports six key components that will help Juilliard continue to recruit the world’s best young artists and faculty, offer educational programs that uphold the quality of a Juilliard education, and increase the size and functionality of Juilliard's physical plant.
Fund raising specifically targeted to the Pre-College Division began in 2004 with a benefit concert given by The
The Park Avenue Chamber SymphonyThe Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, a cultural and philanthropic organization based in New York City and New York’s premier amateur orchestra, gives reasonably priced concerts of extraordinary quality in various New York City venues, including Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, as well as its home...
. The event raised $90,000 to establish a Pre-College Parents' Association Scholarship Fund. In 2005, Juilliard produced its own benefit concert for the Pre-College Division featuring its own students led by faculty member
Itzhak PerlmanItzhak Perlman is an Israeli-American violin virtuoso, conductor, and instructor. He is widely considered as one of the preeminent violin virtuosi of the 20th century.-Biography:...
and hosted by
Bill CosbyWilliam Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, The Bill Cosby Show,...
to add to this fund.
In April 2009, it was announced that the Music Advancement Program (MAP) would be curtailed due to budget cuts. After strong opposition to the cuts, the program, which helps needy inner-city children get music lessons, was then reinstated after several donors pledged money to support it.
In popular culture
A major theme in the movie
Save the Last DanceSave the Last Dance is a 2001 romantic drama film produced by MTV Films, directed by Thomas Carter and released by Paramount Pictures on January 12, 2001. The film stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as a teenage interracial couple in Chicago who work together to help the main character,...
is Julia Stiles's character lifelong desire to attend Juilliard, which she eventually does. Juilliard was seen in the 2007 film
August RushAugust Rush is a 2007 drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and written by Paul Castro, Nick Castle, and James V. Hart, and produced by Richard Barton Lewis...
, where the titular character goes after being discovered as a musical prodigy. It was also a notable part of
High School Musical 3: Senior YearHigh School Musical 3: Senior Year is a 2008 musical film. It is the third installment in Disney's High School Musical film franchise. Its theatrical release in the United States began on October 24, 2008...
where students performed for a Juilliard School Scholarship, and in the 2009 film
The SoloistThe Soloist is a 2009 drama film directed by Joe Wright, and starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. The screenplay by Susannah Grant is based on the book, The Soloist by Steve Lopez...
, after a promising violin and cello player develops schizophrenia and does not graduate from the school. In the teen drama "
The Secret Life of the American TeenagerThe Secret Life of the American Teenager is a television series created by Brenda Hampton. It first premiered on ABC Family on July 1, 2008. The show was renewed for a second season consisting of 24 episodes on February 9, 2009, which began airing on June 22, 2009...
," the main character, Amy Juergens, dreams of one day attending Juilliard, but must put her dream aside in order to care for her baby.
In the film
Being John MalkovichBeing John Malkovich is a 1999 dramedy film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. It stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich, who plays a fictionalized version of himself...
, Malkovich is briefly shown giving a
puppetryPuppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects...
masterclass at Juilliard. The main character in the movie
CrossroadsCrossroads is a 1986 cult film starring Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca and Jami Gertz, inspired by the legend of blues musician Robert Johnson.The film was directed by Walter Hill and featured an original score featuring Ry Cooder and Steve Vai...
attended Juilliard before leaving to find the lost
Robert JohnsonRobert Leroy Johnson was an American blues musician, among the most famous of Delta blues musicians. His landmark recordings from 1936–1937 display a remarkable combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced generations of musicians...
song. In the film
August RushAugust Rush is a 2007 drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and written by Paul Castro, Nick Castle, and James V. Hart, and produced by Richard Barton Lewis...
, August attends Juilliard where he composes his own rhapsody. August's mother is also a Juilliard School alumni.
Further reading
- Ten Years of American Opera Design at the Juilliard School of Music, Published by New York Public Library, 1941.
- The Juilliard Report on Teaching the Literature and Materials of Music, by Juilliard School of Music. Published by Norton, 1953.
- The Juilliard Review, by Richard Franko Goldman, Published by Juilliard School of Music, 1954.
- The Juilliard Journal, Published by The Juilliard School, 1985.
- Nothing But the Best: The Struggle for Perfection at the Juilliard School, by Judith Kogan. Published by Random House, 1987. ISBN 0394555147.
- Guide to the Juilliard School Archives, by Juilliard School Archives, Jane Gottlieb, Stephen E. Novak, Taras Pavlovsky. Published by The School, 1992.
- Juilliard: A History, by Andrea Olmstead. Published by University of Illinois Press, 2002, ISBN 0252071069.
- A Living Legacy: Historic Stringed Instruments at the Juilliard School, by Lisa Brooks Robinson, Itzhak Perlman. Amadeus Press, 2006. ISBN 574671464.
External links