Fourteen Juilliard Musicians Selected to Perform in Public Master Class with William Christie and members of Les Arts Florissants, Friday, April 4, 2008 at 7 PM in Paul Hall

Master Class Closes First U.S. Residency for William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, Completing a Week of Coachings, Lectures, and Demonstrations at Juilliard

Fourteen Juilliard musicians have been selected by William Christie and members of Les Arts Florissants to participate in the first week-long residency by France’s noted early music expert, performer, musicologist and teacher, and members of his highly praised early-music ensemble. The intense schedule of individual lessons, ensemble coachings, lectures, and private master classes culminates in a public master class on Friday, April 4 at 8 PM in the School’s Paul Hall (144 W. 66th St.). The April residency marks the first time that Mr. Christie and his ensemble musicians have been part of a pedagogical residency in the United States.  A second residency takes place in January 2009.  The two residencies by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants are a first step toward Juilliard’s development of its own graduate program in Historical Performance, planned to begin in the fall of 2009.

Selected instrumentalists for the April 2008 program and master class are Kinga Augustyn, Doren Dinglinger and Dina Nesterenko, violins; Hamilton Berry, Elizabeth Lyon and Kristen Wojcik, cellos; Emi Ferguson and Rose Lombardo, flutes; and Kuok-man Lio and Irene Wong, harpsichords.  Selected vocalists are Paul Appleby, tenor; Julie Boulianne, mezzo-soprano; David McFerrin, baritone and Lei Xu, soprano. 

The musicians were drawn from currently enrolled students attending Juilliard and include two recent graduates, almost all of whom have been trained exclusively on modern instruments, but are interested in learning period techniques. The same number of musicians will participate in a second Les Arts Florissants residency, in January 13 – 18 of 2009, with auditions taking place the November prior (2008). 

Very limited free tickets for the public master class on Friday, April 4 at 8 PM in Juilliard’s Paul Hall (enter Juilliard at 144 W. 66th Street) are available at the Juilliard Box Office located at 60 Lincoln Center Plaza beginning March 21.  Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM to 6 PM. To reach the Box Office, take the elevator or escalator located on West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue to the plaza level. Repertoire for the master class will be selected during the week of coaching and study.

-Violinist Kinga Augustyn of Wroclaw, Poland is a recent alumna of The Juilliard School.  Ms. Augustyn graduated in May 2007 with her master of music degree.
-Violinist Doren Dinglinger, from Stuttgart Germany, is pursuing her master of music degree at The Juilliard School.  Ms. Dinglinger will graduate in May 2009.
-Violinist Dina Nesterenko comes to Juilliard from Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany.  She will complete her masters of music degree in May 2009.
-Cellist Hamilton Berry is a native of Nashville, Tennessee.  He is pursuing his masters of music degree at Juilliard, graduating in May 2009.
-Cellist Elizabeth Lyon of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania is in her first year of the Barnard-Columbia-Juilliard Exchange program, a five year program that confers both bachelor and master degrees.
-Cellist Kristen Wojcik, from Leverett, Massachusetts, is studying for her bachelor of music degree at Juilliard.  Ms. Wojcik will graduate in May 2010.
-Flutist Emi Ferguson is from Brookline Massachusetts.  She will complete her bachelor of music degree at Juilliard in May 2009.
-Flutist Rose Lombardo comes to Juilliard from Norwell, Massachusetts.  Ms. Lombardo is pursuing her bachelors of music degree and will graduate in May 2009.
-Harpsichordist Kuok-man Lio of Macau is a recent alumnus of Juilliard.  He graduated with his masters of music degree in May 2005.
-Harpsichordist Irene Wong is a native of Mississauga, Ontario.  Ms. Wong will receive her master of music degree from Juilliard in May 2008.
-Tenor Paul Appleby hails from Granger, IN.  He is pursuing his masters of music degree at The Juilliard School and will graduate in May 2008.
-Mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne, grew up in Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec and will complete her Artist Diploma in May 2009.
-Baritone David McFerrin, of Miami, Florida is pursuing his Artist Diploma.  He will graduate from Juilliard in May 2008.
-Soprano Lei Xu comes to Juilliard from Shanghai, China.  Ms. Xu will graduate from The School in May 2009 with her masters of music degree.

William Christie
William Christie, harpsichordist, conductor, musicologist and teacher, is the inspiration behind a renewed appreciation of Baroque music in France, notably of 17th- and 18th-century French repertoire, which he has introduced to a very wide audience for more than 25 years. Born in Buffalo (New York State), William Christie studied at Harvard and Yale Universities, and has lived in France since 1971. He acquired French nationality in 1995. The major turning point in his career came in 1979 when he founded Les Arts Florissants. Major public recognition came in 1987 with the production of Atys by Lully at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.

Mr. Christie has an increasingly busy operatic career and his collaborations with renowned theater and opera directors are always significant events in the musical calendar. Equally committed to the training and professional development of young artists, Mr. Christie has nurtured several generations of singers and instrumentalists during the last twenty-five years. Between 1982 and 1995, Christie was a Professor at the Paris Conservatoire, with responsibility for the early music class. He created an academy for young singers in Caen, called Le Jardin des Voix, whose first three sessions, in 2002, 2005 and 2007, generated a huge amount of interest in France and elsewhere in Europe, as well as in the United States.

Les Arts Florissants
The vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Arts Florissants is one of the most renowned and respected early music groups in Europe and around the world. Dedicated to the performance of Baroque music on original instruments, the ensemble was founded in 1979 by William Christie, and takes its name from a short opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Les Arts Florissants have been largely responsible for the resurgence of interest in France in 17th-century French repertoire as well as in European music of the 17th and 18th centuries more generally. This was repertoire which had, for the most part, been neglected but which is now performed widely and admired.

Since the acclaimed production of Atys (1676) by Lully, it has been the field of opera where Les Arts Florissants have found most success. Notable productions include works by Rameau (Les Indes galantes, Hippolyte et Aricie, Les Boréades, Les Paladins), Charpentier (Médée), Handel (Orlando, Acis and Galatea, Semele, Alcina, Hercules…), Purcell, Mozart and Monteverdi. For fifteen years, Les Arts Florissants have been artists in residence at the Théâtre de Caen. The ensemble also tours widely within France, and is a frequent ambassador for French culture abroad (it is regularly invited to the Brooklyn Academy and Lincoln Center in New York, the Barbican Centre in London and the Vienna Festival).

The Juilliard School
Since opening in October 1905, Juilliard has set this country's standard for education in the performing arts. Juilliard became one of Lincoln Center original constituents in 1968, having already added a Dance Division (1951) and Drama Division (1968). In 2001, Juilliard broke new ground by adding its first program in jazz studies. Juilliard’s second century has begun with a major expansion of it facilities, adding 39,000 square feet of state-of-the-art studios, theaters, rehearsal halls, centers for music technology and writing/communication. A secure facility for storage and use of the priceless Juilliard Manuscript Collection – which includes many important Baroque and early Classical items – is an important part of the current $193 million renovation. The School continues to grow with and respond to the needs of a thriving cultural community in the U.S. and abroad, its student body drawn from 47 states and 50 foreign countries.