We’re paying tribute to four Juilliard anniversaries this year—20 years of Juilliard Jazz, 30 of the Music Advancement Program (MAP), 70 of Juilliard Dance, and 75 of the Juilliard String Quartet.

We will be posting articles about all four throughout the year, some of which, including this one, are adapted from exhibits in the Larkin Lobby of the Diamond building at Juilliard.

We start the series with jazz—the jazz season continues on October 24 with the Jazz Ensembles performing a concert called The Latin Tinge: Eddie Palmieri and Chico O’Farrill and on October 30 at Alice Tully Hall, when the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra performs Standards Revisited: The Legacy of Juilliard Jazz. 

Juilliard Jazz 2001-2021

The founding of Juilliard Jazz in 2001 was an important sign of the maturation of American culture and the reflection of our growth in music education. It was and continues to be an opportunity for the artistic vision of musicians like Ellington, Monk, and Brubeck to be realized through formal education. We prepare students to develop a holistic understanding of the world we live in through the prism of jazz as well as to empower them with the tools to participate in shaping the world to come.
—Wynton Marsalis, director, Juilliard Jazz

Our insistence on the student having a philosophical relationship with the history of jazz is key. If the music is to continue its vibrancy, we need students to understand its core values and the unique musical objectives of its greatest practitioners as they develop their own artistic visions. Juilliard gives them tools, experiences, and a community to embrace the past, present, and future with confidence.
—Aaron Flagg (BM ’92, MM ’93, trumpet), chair and associate director of Juilliard Jazz