Ara Guzelimian

Provost and Dean of The Juilliard School

Ara Guzelimian was appointed Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School in New York City in August 2006. In that capacity, he oversees the faculty, curriculum and artistic planning of the distinguished performing arts conservatory in all three of its divisions – dance, drama and music.

Prior to the Juilliard appointment, he was Senior Director and Artistic Advisor of Carnegie Hall from 1998 to 2006.  He continues his association with Carnegie Hall as host and producer of the acclaimed “Making Music” composer series at Carnegie Hall, which has included concerts devoted to such composers as John Adams, Hans Werner Henze, Peter Lieberson, Leon Kirchner, Osvaldo Golijov, as well as Oliver Knussen, Meredith Monk, George Perle and Chen Yi.  This season, Pierre Boulez, Thomas Ades, and Fredric Rzewski will be the featured composers. In addition, he has given lectures at the invitation of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Salzburg Festival and Salzburg Easter Festival, the Music at Menlo Festival, The Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Jerusalem Music Center, where he was on the faculty of the 2000 International Chamber Music Encounter, led by Isaac Stern.

As a writer and music critic, he has contributed to such publications as Musical America, Opera Quarterly, Opera News, Symphony magazine, The New York Times, the Record Geijutsu magazine (Tokyo), the program books of the Salzburg and the Helsinki Festivals, and the journal for the IRCAM center in Paris.  He is editor of Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (Pantheon Books, 2002), a collection of dialogues between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said.

Mr. Guzelimian has also been active as a radio producer, with projects for Swedish Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, WFMT/Chicago, KERA/Dallas, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.  In the recent seasons, he has been heard both on the Metropolitan Opera Radio broadcasts and, as a guest host, on public radio’s Saint Paul Sunday.

Previously, Ara Guzelimian was the Artistic Administrator of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado from 1993 to 1998.  In addition, he was Artistic Director of the Ojai Festival in California from 1992 to 1997, where he worked closely with Festival music directors Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Kent Nagano, Michael Tilson Thomas and Emanuel Ax.  He was associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1978 to 1993 -- first as producer for the Orchestra’s national radio broadcasts and, more recently, as Artistic Administrator -- where he founded and edited the orchestra’s monthly publication for subscribers and helped to create its highly popular series of pre-concert lectures.

In September 2003, Mr. Guzelimian was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.