The following events in Juilliard’s history occurred in December and January.
1952
Boyd Gaines as Melchior Gabor and Keith Williams as Masked Man in the New York premiere of Spring Awakening at Juilliard in 1977.
((Photo by Louisa Johnson)
December 5 and 7, José Limón and Dance Company presented a concert
with the Juilliard Orchestra, Frederik Prausnitz conducting. The program
included the New York premiere of Limón’s The Exiles, a duet between Limón and Letitia Ide set to Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 2; the New York premiere of Doris Humphrey’s Night Spell danced by Limón, Lucas Hoving, Betty Jones, and Ruth Currier to Priaulx Rainier’s Quartet for Strings; Humphrey’s Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías with dancers Limón, Ide, and Ellen Love and music by Norman Lloyd; and the U.S. premiere of Limón’s El Grito, performed by Limón and ensemble with music by Silvestre Revueltas.
1967
The Juilliard Repertory Project, which compiled an expanded musical
repertory for children in kindergarten through grade six, was completed
in December. The Project began in 1964 through a grant the United States
Office of Education gave Juilliard to research and make available
previously inaccessible (or not easily accessible) high quality music
from different eras and cultures. The selections were tested in seven
school systems across the country, and the results were used in
compiling the Project’s 1970 publication, the Juilliard Repertory Library.
1977
December 15-19, The Juilliard Theater Center presented the New York premiere of Edward Bond’s adaptation of Spring Awakening,
by Frank Wedekind. Romanian director Liviu Ciulei made his New York
debut as director and designer of the production, which was performed by
both third- and fourth-year actors. Ciulei also gave a master class
called Translating the Written Word Into Images during his visit at the
School. In July 1978, this productionwas revived for a two-week engagement as part of Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival at the Public/Newman Theater.
1985
January 23, Juilliard held a memorial tribute for Marion
Szekely-Freschl, an opera singer and member of the voice faculty from
1950 to 1973. Soprano Shirley Verrett, a former student of Freschl, performed Brahms’s Vier ernste Gesänge and Mozart’s “Alleluja” from Exsultate Jubilate,
K. 165, with pianist Warren George Wilson. President Joseph W. Polisi,
Dean Gideon Waldrop, and composer Vincent Persichetti spoke at the
tribute.