By SALIMA BARDAY

Before the Juilliard Orchestra heads out on its spring centennial tour, New York audiences can hear the program in Avery Fisher Hall, presented in conjunction with Lincoln Center's Great Performers series. The setting is, appropriately enough, the hall where James DePreist first conducted the Juilliard Orchestra in November 1987, when they performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with student soloist Gil Shaham. Maestro DePreist, who returned to lead the orchestra every season before his full-time appointment as director of conducting and orchestral studies in 2004, also conducted the orchestra's tour to Switzerland, Germany, Finland, and the U.K. that launched the centennial celebrations last August. "One of the most gratifying revelations of the European tour," he said, "was the capacity of the Juilliard musicians to meet the challenge of repeat performances. Each successive performance reached a higher level of inspired playing despite the change of venues. This was truly impressive."

Faculty member Joseph Kalichstein, who will tour with the orchestra as the soloist for Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto ("Emperor") and is himself a Juilliard alumnus, recalled a moment about 40 years ago in February 1967, when he performed Bartok's Second Piano Concerto with the Juilliard Theater Orchestra after winning the concerto competition. He felt "touched and excited" when asked to perform the Beethoven concerto as the soloist for this tour, in which he will also be performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17. "I know quite a few of the students from coaching chamber music," he said. "It will be nice to play with them as equals." Although several faculty members accompanied the orchestra on its Asian tour in 1987 to give master classes, this tour marks the first time that a faculty member has performed with the orchestra on a tour.

Return to Juilliard's 3 Divisions Simultaneously Tour the U.S.

Pianist Leon Fleisher visited Juilliard to give a master class on the Beethoven "Emperor" Concerto in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater on January 19, providing students with an opportunity to gain some additional insights into the work before the tour. In another neat twist, Kalichstein performed this very piece with Fleisher conducting the New Jersey Symphony several years ago—though he says the master class and his upcoming concerto performance are a "total coincidence."

Salima Barday is a second-year bass student.