Singer and actress Audra McDonald—a Juilliard alumna who earned an unprecedented three Tony Awards before the age of 30 (for Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime) and a fourth in 2004 for A Raisin in the Sun—will address the graduating class on May 25 at Juilliard’s 102nd commencement in Avery Fisher Hall. Ms. McDonald will receive an honorary Doctor of Music degree, as will the retiring dean of the School, Stephen Clapp; jazz legend Benny Golson; and Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Doctor of Fine Arts degrees will be given to dancer and ballet master Frederic Franklin; and playwright, actor, and director Sam Shepard. Earning a Doctor of Humane Letters will be philanthropist Dan W. Lufkin.

Above: Audra McDonald (Photo by Eddie Malluk) Below: Stephen Clapp

Audra McDonald has won acclaim for her luscious soprano voice in both Broadway and classical performances, as well as for her dramatic gifts as an actress. Currently starring on Broadway as Lizzie Curry in the Roundabout Theater’s revival of 110 in the Shade, Ms. McDonald also has a recurring role on the NBC series Kidnapped. Her recent performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center was broadcast nationwide on PBS. She has recorded four solo albums for Nonesuch, including Way Back to Paradise (featuring songs by a new generation of musical theater composers) and the recent Build a Bridge, which explores music by contemporary singer-songwriters. She has sung regularly with all the major American orchestras, and made her Los Angeles Opera debut as Jenny in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in February. She won great acclaim with the Houston Grand Opera in March 2006 in a double bill of Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and the premiere of Michael John LaChiusa’s Send.

Stephen Clapp, who steps down as Juilliard’s dean at the end of this month after 13 years in the position, has held several posts in higher education and has pursued an extensive career as a violinist. He was Juilliard’s associate dean from 1991-94. A member of the violin and chamber music faculties in both the College and Pre-College divisions since 1987, Mr. Clapp will continue to teach after his retirement as dean. He has also has served as dean of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and acting dean of Oberlin Conservatory, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in violin before coming to Juilliard in 1961 as a master’s student of Dorothy DeLay. Mr. Clapp taught at Oberlin from 1978-80 before joining Juilliard’s faculty, and was a founding member of the Oberlin Trio. He has also been a member of the Beaux-Arts and Blair String Quartets, and served as concertmaster of the Aspen Chamber Symphony and the Nashville and Austin Symphonies.

Above: Frederic Franklin C.B.E. (Photo by Ray Round) Below: Benny Golson (Photo by Lisa Stein)

Frederic Franklin C.B.E., distinguished ballet master and Ballet Russe icon, began his career at 17 in 1931 with Josephine Baker at the Casino de Paris. In his native England, he appeared in cabaret and vaudeville and danced with the Vic-Wells Ballet (precursor to today’s Royal Ballet) before joining the Markova-Dolin Ballet in 1935. He was premier danseur with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo from 1938-52, performing more than 45 principal roles. Mr. Franklin and Alexandra Danilova created a legendary partnership, but he also danced with many other well-known ballerinas and worked with choreographers including Fokine, Massine, Nijinska, Ashton, Balanchine, de Mille, Page, and Bettis. He was founding director of the National Ballet of Washington, and acting director of the Cincinnati Ballet from 1977-86. He has mounted works on some 20 companies in the U.S. and abroad, and collaborated with dance scholars in the preservation of early Balanchine works and the history of the Ballet Russe. He has staged several productions for American Ballet Theater and continues to perform mime roles.

Benny Golson, composer, arranger, lyricist, producer, and tenor saxophonist of world note, has made a major contribution to five decades of jazz. He added his distinctive saxophone style to ensembles led by Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Earl Bostic, and Art Blakey, and has written eight jazz standards that have found their way into countless recordings. Mr. Golson also composed and arranged for such giants as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones, Peggy Lee, Oscar Peterson, Diana Ross, and George Shearing, among many others. His credits include scores for TV series including M*A*S*H, Mission Impossible, Room 222, The Partridge Family, Mannix, and Mod Squad, as well as music for radio and TV spots for major advertising agencies. His symphonic commissions include Two Faces (commissioned by Readers Digest) and A Three Piano Composition for the Ravinia Festival. Mr. Golson has given hundreds of performances around the world, including on a 1987 tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Above: Dan W. Lufkin (Photo by Erik Heinila/HBO) Below: Sam Shepard (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Dan W. Lufkin has made his mark in the diverse activities of venture capital, government, philanthropy, cattle ranching/animal husbandry, and as a ranked rider in national cutting horse competitions. A graduate of Yale and Harvard Business School, Lufkin joined with a classmate from each institution in 1960 to form the investment banking, brokerage, and financial firm of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc., which became one of Wall Street’s greatest success stories. During his 11 years as chairman of the firm, he served as one of the youngest governors of the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. Lufkin was one of the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970, and left Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 1971 to enter public service as the first commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection. He has served as a trustee of numerous environmental and conservation organizations, and has written and spoken extensively on finance and business, including business responsibilities in modern society, government, and the environment. Mr. Lufkin and his wife, Cynthia, chaired Juilliard’s centennial gala in April 2006 that was broadcast on Live From Lincoln Center on PBS.

Sam Shepard’s numerous plays—known for capturing an authentic sense of
the gritty modern American West—are performed on and off Broadway and in major regional theaters around the country. His Buried Child won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize; other notable plays include Curse of the Starving Class, True West, and A Lie of the Mind. He is also a respected actor whose many films include Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, Philip Kaufman’s The Right Stuff (which brought him an Academy Award nomination), and the lead in Robert Altman’s adaptation of Shepard’s play Fool for Love. His notable television roles have included those in Larry McMurtry’s Streets of Laredo, Lily Dale, Purgatory, and Dash and Lilly (which earned him both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for his performance as Dashiell Hammett). Mr. Shepard also directed the features Far North and Silent Tongue, both of which he also wrote. His books include Cruising Paradise and Great Dream of Heaven.

Stephen Sondheim has written prolifically for Broadway and has been credited with shaping the modern American musical theater.

Above: Stephen Sondheim (Photo by Jerry Jackson)

His first role as lyricist was for Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story in 1957, followed by Gypsy and Do I Hear a Waltz? Mr. Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics for Sweeney Todd, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, and Into the Woods (all of which won Tony Awards for best score); Sunday in the Park With George (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1985); and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Pacific Overtures, Assassins, Passion, and Bounce. For films, he composed the score of Stavisky and co-composed Reds, and provided all the songs for Dick Tracy. He also co-authored the film The Last of Sheila and the play Getting Away With Murder. Mr. Sondheim is on the council of the Dramatists Guild, having served as its president from 1973-1981.