The Juilliard School announced today that a $20 million dollar gift from its Board Chairman, Bruce Kovner, will fully endow the School’s graduate-level Historical Performance program. The program provides specialized study in informed performance practice of music composed from 1600 to roughly the early 19^th century, with full scholarships to all Historical Performance students. They perform frequently in New York – some seventeen concerts annually, as Juilliard415 – and have been critically praised. Those who do not have their own period instruments perform on instruments from the School’s collection. The first class of students, who arrived in the fall of 2009, graduated at Juilliard’s 106^th commencement in May 2011. Juilliard already has received the first half of Mr. Kovner’s gift, in December 2011.

Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi made the announcement, saying, “This extraordinary gift exemplifies the vision and generosity of spirit that has been the foundation upon which Bruce Kovner has embraced his leadership of The Juilliard School. With a strong financial base, our Historical Performance program can now look toward the future with confidence that we can create an educational experience of excellence that addresses the best practices of this important field in today's musical environment. All the members of the Juilliard community are deeply grateful to Bruce for his exceptional support of this significant program.”

In accordance with an original goal of integrating period performance throughout the School, including in the dance and drama departments, Juilliard Historical Performance musicians quickly fulfilled that promise, and have participated in a variety of productions at Juilliard. Their most frequent collaborators are singers from the School’s Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, with whom they have performed two fully-staged – L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Dido and Aeneas, as well as vocal master classes with Dame Emma Kirkby.

Last December’s New Dances program featured world premiere choreography by Alex Ketley, set to Biber’s Passacaglia for Solo Violin in G Minor, performed live on one of Juilliard’s period violins, plus Juilliard shared in the department’s presentations by Baroque dance specialist Catherine Turocy.

Juilliard concluded its 2010-11 season with a special, staged reading of selections from The Tempest by Sir Derek Jacobi, Richard Clifford and Juilliard alumna Monica Raymund, with musical interludes performed by Juilliard415 and countertenor David Daniels and baritone Bob McDonald. Perhaps most interestingly, a string trio from Juilliard Historical Performance will perform John Cage’s 44 Harmonies later this month in an upcoming all new-music program, part of Juilliard’s annual FOCUS! festival that this year is devoted to the music of Cage. Seventeen instrumentalists studying at Juilliard on modern instruments currently take extra studio lessons with teachers from Historical Performance. These lessons are free of charge and include trumpet, horn, and viola in addition to the program’s regular teaching on violin, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, bassoon, and harpsichord. Enrollment will rise slightly next year, to 27 resident graduate students, when viola da gamba and plucked instruments will be taught, allowed in part by the endowment gift.

Juilliard Baroque by Nan Melville

Enlarge Photo

 

The seventeen-member faculty is led by violinist and Artistic Director Monica Huggett, who also leads the program’s faculty ensemble, Juilliard Baroque, which was formed last season, and also has been critically praised. Residencies and master classes with leading early music artists from around the world are a major component of student studies. A remarkable roster of guest artists include notable figures such as Fabio Biondi, William Christie and members of Les Arts Florissants, Richard Egarr, Steven Fox, Christopher Hogwood, Dame Emma Kirkby, Ton Koopman, Nicholas McGegan, Jordi Savall, and Masaaki Suzuki, who led joint concerts with Yale and Juilliard musicians in New York, New Haven, and in Italy. Mr. Christie in particular has returned for lengthy residencies each season, and was involved in the planning and realization of Historical Performance at Juilliard. Mr. Christie conducts Juilliard415 on Thursday, January 26 at Alice Tully Hall at 8PM in a performance of excerpts from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and Rameau’s Les fêtes d'Hébé with sopranos Raquel González and Lilla Heinrich Szász, currently studying in Juilliard’s vocal arts program, and alumni soprano Katherine Whyte. (The concert is free, but public tickets have been distributed. A standby line will form at 7PM on the evening of the concert.)     

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Juilliard Historical Performance Faculty

William Christie and Jordi Savall, Visiting Artists

VIOLIN: Monica Huggett, Cynthia Roberts

VIOLA DA GAMBA: Sarah Cunningham

CELLO: Phoebe Carrai

DOUBLE BASS: Robert Nairn

FLUTE: Sandra Miller

OBOE: Gonzalo Ruiz

BASSOON: Dominic Teresi

HARPSICHORD: Kenneth Weiss

CHAMBER MUSIC: Robert Mealy

FIGURED BASS: Arthur Haas, Kenneth Weiss

CORE STUDIES: Robert Mealy, David Schulenberg

SECONDARY LESSONS: R.J. Kelley, Horn; John Thiessen, Trumpet

1941 Broadway at 65th Street, New York, NY 10023

William Christie Conducts Juilliard415

William Christie, conductor

PURCELL Excerpts from The Fairy Queen

RAMEAU Excerpts from Les fêtes d'Hébé

Katherine Whyte, Raquel González,  Lilla Heinrich Szász, sopranos

Juilliard's annual Jerome L. Greene concert

FREE; Standby line forms at 7PM

Friday, Feb 24 at 8:00 PM · Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium,

417 East 61st Street (between York and First Avenues),

New York, N.Y. 10065

Monica Huggett Leads Juilliard415 

The Evolution of the Concerto Grosso

Monica Huggett, leader/violin

Alessandro STRADELLA Concerto Grosso in D Major for two violins, lute and strings

Georg MUFFAT Concerto No. 12 in G Major, Propitia Sydera

Luigi BOCCHERINI Sinfonia Concertante in C Major, Op. 7

Unico Wilhelm van WASSENAER Concerti armonici, Nos. 5 and 6

This concert is a co-presentation of Juilliard and Salon/Sanctuary Concerts

Tickets $25 ($15 senior/student)

available online at salonsanctuaryconcerts.org, or call (212) 866-0468, or e-mail: orders@gemsny.org

Friday, Mar 23 at 8:00 PM · Alice Tully Hall,

Steven Fox Conducts Juilliard415 and the Clarion Music Society Choir 

Steven Fox, conductor

JS BACH Violin Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1041

HANDEL Silete Venti, HWV 242

CORELLI Concerto Grosso in D Major, Op. 6, No. 4

JS BACH Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243

FREE tickets at Juilliard Box Office 3/9

Thursday, Apr 12 at 8:00 PM ·

Rosemary and Meredith Willson Theater at Juilliard

155 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023

Gonzalo Ruiz Leads Juilliard415

Featuring the winds of Juilliard415

Gonzalo Ruiz, leader/oboe

TELEMANN Suite in E Minor from Tafelmusik, TWV 55:e1

JS BACH Oboe Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1059

Johann David HEINICHEN Concerto in G Major for violin, oboe, and flute

TELEMANN Septet (Concerto) for three oboes and three violins in B-flat Major, TWV 44:43

Johann Friedrich FASCH Work TBD

Extremely limited FREE tickets at the Juilliard Box Office 3/29

Saturday, Apr 14 at 8:00 PM · Coolidge Auditorium

Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress

10 1st St, SE, Washington, DC 20540

Juilliard Baroque at the Library of Congress  

ALL-BACH

Concerto in A Minor for flute, violin and harpsichord, BWV 1044

Selections from A Musical Offering, BWV 1079

Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050

FREE tickets, plus service charges, available 3/7,

online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/Juilliard-Baroque-tickets/artist/1633438 or call (703) 573-7328 or (202) 397-7328

Sunday, Apr 22 at 4:00 PM · Corpus Christi Church

529 West 121st Street, New York, NY 10027

Juilliard Baroque & Juilliard415 perform Vivaldi

The Glories of Venice: Vivaldi Concertos on Music Before 1800's concert series

Monica Huggett, leader/violin; Cynthia Roberts, violin; Robert Mealy, violin/viola

Phoebe Carrai, cello; Robert Nairn, double bass; Sandra Miller, flute

Gonzalo Ruiz, oboe; Kenneth Weiss, harpsichord

Chamber Concerto in F Major, RV 97

Flute Concerto in G Minor, RV 107

Bassoon Concerto in B-flat Major "La Notte", RV 501

Concerto for Two Horns in F Major, RV 539

Flute Concerto in D Major "Il Gardellino", RV 428

Concert for Oboe and Bassoon in G Minor, RV 545

Concerto per la solennità di S. Lorenzo in D Major, RV 562

Presented by Juilliard Historical Performance in partnership with Music Before 1800

Tickets $27.50-$45 available online at www.mb1800.org or call (212) 666-9266

Saturday, Apr 28 at 8:00 PM · Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium

417 East 61st Street (btwn York and First Avenues), NY 10065

Juilliard Baroque

Robert Mealy, violin

Gonzalo Ruiz, oboe

Dominic Teresi, bassoon

Kenneth Weiss, harpsichord

Works by Telemann, CPE Bach, Zelenka, and Handel

This concert is a co-presentation of Juilliard and Salon/Sanctuary Concerts

Tickets $25 ($15 senior/student) available online at www.salonsanctuaryconcerts.org or call (212) 866-0468, or e-mail to orders@gemsny.org

Sunday, Apr 29 at 5:00 PM · Woolsey Hall

Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511

Masaaki Suzuki Conducts Haydn's Creation with the

Yale Schola Cantorum & Juilliard415 in New Haven

Masaaki Suzuki, conductor

HAYDN The Creation, Hob XXI:2

FREE; no tickets required

Monday, Apr 30 at 7:30 PM · 

Masaaki Suzuki Conducts Haydn's Creation with the

Yale Schola Cantorum & Juilliard415 in New York

St. Bartholomew's Church

325 Park Avenue (at 51st Street)

NY, NY 10022

Masaaki Suzuki, conductor

HAYDN The Creation, Hob XXI:2

FREE; tickets available online at www.stbarts.org/haydns-creation

Saturday, May 12 at 8:00 PM · Sleepy Hollow High School

210 N. Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY

Juilliard Baroque

with members of Juilliard415

ALL-BACH

Overture No. 2 in A Minor, after BWV 1067

Concerto for three violins in D Major, BWV 1064

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050

Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049

Presented by the Friends of Music of Westchester County

Tickets: $30 ($15 for students) available online at www.friendsofmusicconcerts.org, or call (914) 861-5080, or e-mail: tickets@friendsofmusicconcerts.org