Vol. XIX No. 1
September 2003
More Than 700 Performances Scheduled for New Season
Juilliard’s Presence Continues to Expand Beyond School Borders

Juilliard’s 98th performance season gets underway this month with an unusual multimedia staging by the ensemble Pink Baby Monster on September 19—the first of more than 700 music, dance, drama, and interdisciplinary offerings that will be presented over the course of the school year. Other events this month include the New Juilliard Ensemble's opening concert on September 20 and a Juilliard Songbook program on September 25.
Conductor John Conlon (Photo by Helge Strauss)

In addition to the regularly scheduled events that Juilliard audiences have come to expect, this year’s lineup continues to expand into new venues as the School’s young performers have opportunities to move beyond the borders of Lincoln Center. Juilliard's important association with conductor and alumnus James Conlon in his project Recovering a Musical Heritage—begun last year with three concerts exploring music from the time of the Holocaust—continues this spring with a weekend of music by Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff at Alice Tully Hall and the 92nd Street Y from April 30 to May 2. (One of last year's programs that presented Juilliard singers in Viktor Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis will be repeated in Miami this December with the same cast.)

Carnegie Hall will be the scene of two Juilliard concerts this year, including a performance by the Juilliard Orchestra on October 26 in the Sunday Afternoons at Carnegie Hall series, with Charles Dutoit leading a program of music by de Falla and Debussy. (Featured guest artists for this program are piano faculty member Emanuel Ax and mezzo-soprano Jossie Pèrez.) On April 26, James DePreist will lead the Juilliard Symphony in a program highlighted by Aaron Jay Kernis’ New Era Dance, along with works by Mozart and Mahler.

Drama Division Productions

Nick Dear's adaptation of Tirso de Molina’s The Last Days of Don Juan opens the Drama Division’s fall season on October 1 in the Drama Theater, featuring fourth-year actors in a performance that will be repeated October 2-5. The production is directed by Michael Sexton. Other fourth-year productions to be featured in the Drama Theater during the year include Brian Friel’s Translations (directed by Richard Feldman), November 20-24; Florence Gibson’s Belle (directed by Tazewell Thompson), December 13-18; and Shakespeare’s Love's Labour’s Lost (directed by Eleanor Holdridge), February 12-16. Each of these plays will return in the spring for the repertory season. Third-year students will also be featured in several productions during the year, beginning with Homer’s The Odyssey (directed by Ruben Polendo) in Studio 301, October 22-26.

Dance Performances and Workshops

Choreographers Jacqulyn Buglisi, Thaddeus Davis, Zvi Gotheiner, and Dwight Rhoden will work with Juilliard dancers throughout the fall semester, creating works that will be featured on a program titled New Dances at Juilliard, Edition 2003, in the Juilliard Theater on December 11-14. The annual spring dance concert moves to March this year, with a new title: Juilliard Dances Repertory, Edition 2003. The program, which runs from March 24-28, will feature Juilliard dancers in Paul Taylor’s Esplanade, Lar Lubovitch’s A Brahms Symphony, and Nacho Duato’s Duende, with the Juilliard Theater Orchestra conducted by David Briskin. Other dance highlights this season include a retrospective of the best works by student choreographers on the newly titled Choreographic Honors program, presented on May 12, 13, and 15. All performances are in the Juilliard Theater.

Opera and Vocal Arts Offerings

The Juilliard Opera Center offers two mainstage productions in the Juilliard Theater this season, beginning with Handel’s Oreste (performed in Italian), conducted by Daniel Beckwith and directed by Lillian Groag, on November 12, 14, and 16. Later in the season, Juilliard alumnus Miguel Harth-Bedoya returns to lead a double bill of Stravinsky operas (Oedipus rex and Le rossignol) on April 20, 22, and 24, directed by Ned Canty.

Alumnus and tenor William Ferguson has been awarded the 2003 Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital, which will take place in Tully Hall on November 20. He will be joined by pianist Stephen Philcox. This annual concert advancing an outstanding young vocalist is underwritten by the Alice Tully Young Artists Fund (which also provides scholarships in voice and organ). Ferguson will sing music by Schubert, Purcell, Britten, Grainger, and Juilliard alumnus Mason Bates.

The annual Vocal Arts Honors Recital will take place on May 6 in Alice Tully Hall, featuring selected young artists of the Juilliard Opera Center and the Vocal Arts Department. Other events will include a master class with opera star and Juilliard alumna Leontyne Price on October 8, as well as six Liederabend and four Juilliard Songbook concerts throughout the season.

Jazz at Juilliard

The Juilliard Jazz Orchestra (Photo by Nan Melville)
The Juilliard Jazz Orchestra’s third season kicks off with "Symphony in Riffs: The Music of Benny Carter" on October 24 in Alice Tully Hall. Two more concerts will follow in the Juilliard Theater: the program on February 23 is titled "Current Events: Music from Juilliard Jazz"; the final concert, "'What's Your Story': The Music of Mary Lou Williams", will be offered on April 28. (The orchestra also makes debut appearances this year at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and at Emory University in Atlanta.) Jazz performances by a variety of smaller ensembles (which take place in Paul Hall) are scheduled for October 7, November 3, December 1, February 2, April 7, and May 19.

Focus! Festival 2004

The 20th annual Focus! Festival commemorates the 50th anniversary of the death of Charles Ives with a six-concert retrospective of his music. Opening the festival is the New Juilliard Ensemble, with a concert in the Juilliard Theater on January 23. Four chamber concerts (also in the Juilliard Theater) will follow during the week; the concluding concert on January 30 will be conducted by Anne Manson and feature the Juilliard Orchestra and the Juilliard Choral Union in a performance of Ives's Psalm 90 and three other works.

Orchestra and Symphony Concerts

Along with the Carnegie Hall concerts, the Juilliard Orchestra and Symphony each perform once in Avery Fisher Hall this year. The orchestra's November 10 appearance, led by Gerard Schwarz, features Bernstein's "Kaddish" Symphony (with the Juilliard Choral Union and Brooklyn Youth Chorus), as well as works by Adler and Bloch. The Juilliard Symphony presents a program of Berlioz, Rossini, and Schubert on October 27, conducted by James DePreist.

Other concerts include one by the orchestra in the Juilliard Theater that opens its season on October 2, conducted by Otto-Werner Mueller, as well as three in Alice Tully Hall: on December 8 (led by George Manahan), February 27 (conducted by James Judd), and May 20 (the commencement concert, under the baton of Hugh Wolff). The Juilliard Symphony launches its season in the Juilliard Theater on October 9 with a program of Mozart, Schoenberg, and Elgar (under the direction of Carlos Kalmar), followed by three concerts at Alice Tully Hall, led by Otto-Werner Mueller (November 24 and February 13) and Jeffrey Milarsky (on April 15).

Faculty Recital Series

The American Brass Quintet opens the Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series on October 15 in the Juilliard Theater. Other performers and ensembles appearing on the series are flutists Carol Wincenc and Robert Langevin with harpist Nancy Allen (in the Juilliard Theater on January 21); trombonist Joseph Alessi (in the Juilliard Theater on February 25); the New York Woodwind Quintet (in Paul Hall on March 18); and the Juilliard String Quartet (in Alice Tully Hall on April 13 and May 3).

Other Events

Pianists Konstantin Soukhovetski and Orion Weiss, winners of this year's Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, will be presented in a recital on October 1 in Paul Hall that will be broadcast live on WQXR’s McGraw-Hill Companies Young Artists Showcase, hosted by Robert Sherman.

The second annual Jerome L. Greene Concert, dedicated to the performance of Baroque music, will feature Juilliard students led by faculty harpsichordist Lionel Party on November 6 in Alice Tully Hall.

Besides its appearances with the Juilliard Orchestra, the Focus! Festival, and the Juilliard Opera Center, the Juilliard Choral Union will be featured in its own concert on March 19 in Alice Tully Hall. The chorus, directed by Judith Clurman, will present Rossini's Petite messe solonnelle in the composer's original chamber version.

Juilliard's newly appointed graduate-quartet-in-residence, the Chiara String Quartet, will be featured in the annual Lisa Arnhold Memorial Concert on March 23 at Alice Tully Hall.

"Classified Jazz," a gala benefit hosted by Christine Baranski and Keith David in the Juilliard Theater on March 31, will feature the world premiere of a work created by Peter Martins for Juilliard alumni dancers, in addition to performances by Renèe Fleming, the Claremont Trio, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, and Wynton Marsalis.

The winner of the William Petschek Piano Award (as yet to be announced) will be presented in a debut recital on April 8 in Alice Tully Hall.

These are but a small number of the many concerts and productions that will be announced as the season unfolds. Watch The Juilliard Journal throughout the year for details, or search the calendar of events on our Web site at www.juilliard.edu/calendar.

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