The Juilliard School

The Juilliard School
Name	The Juilliard School
Established	1905
Type	Private conservatory
Location	Lincoln Center, Manhattan, New York City
Campus	Urban
Website	www.juilliard.edu

The Juilliard School

The Juilliard School is a private performing arts conservatory located at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, New York City, with historic ties to Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, and Broadway. Founded with philanthropic support from Augustus D. Juilliard and connected to institutions such as the New York Philharmonic, the school has become a nexus for collaborations with the Metropolitan Opera, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet. Over its history the institution has produced alumni who have shaped fields linked to Leonard Bernstein, Marian Anderson, Aaron Copland, Jerome Robbins, and George Gershwin.

History

Founded in 1905 as the Institute of Musical Art with backing from Augustus D. Juilliard and contemporaneous with institutions like the Mannes School, the school merged in 1926 with the Juilliard Graduate School in a transformation paralleling developments at the Curtis Institute and the Royal Academy of Music. Throughout the 20th century the school expanded under directors who engaged with figures such as Arturo Toscanini, Serge Koussevitzky, and John D. Rockefeller III, and navigated eras marked by World War II, the Great Depression, and the Cold War alongside peers like the New England Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music. The relocation to Lincoln Center in the 1960s brought Juilliard into proximity with Lincoln Center constituents including the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Lincoln Center Theater, and the Juilliard Quartet, while initiatives in the late 20th and early 21st centuries created partnerships with institutions like the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall.

Campus and Facilities

The Juilliard building at Lincoln Center sits adjacent to the David H. Koch Theater and the Alice Tully Hall, sharing the plaza with the Metropolitan Opera and the New York State Theater, and affords performance and rehearsal spaces that accommodate ensembles from string quartets to chamber orchestras associated with names like the Juilliard String Quartet and the Juilliard Orchestra. Facilities include performance halls comparable in function to Alice Tully Hall and Zankel Hall, practice rooms, recording studios used by visiting artists associated with Sony Classical and Deutsche Grammophon, and specialized studios for piano, voice, composition, and drama that support collaborations with the Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, and Manhattan Theatre Club. The campus infrastructure also houses administrative offices interacting with boards and donors familiar to institutions such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Academics and Programs

Juilliard offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in performance disciplines that intersect with curricula at conservatories like Curtis, Royal College of Music, and the Sibelius Academy, delivering programs in Classical music-oriented violin, cello, piano, voice, composition, and conducting, as well as a drama program influenced by pedagogies traced to Konstantin Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg, and Stella Adler, and a dance division aligned with choreographic traditions exemplified by Martha Graham, George Balanchine, and Twyla Tharp. The curriculum supports chamber music, orchestral studies, opera production, musical theatre, contemporary music initiatives linked to composers such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich, and interdisciplinary collaborations often undertaken with the New York City Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, Broadway producers, and film directors who have worked with alumni. Faculty and guest artists have included figures associated with institutions such as the Juilliard Quartet, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the American Ballet Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Admissions and Tuition

Admissions at Juilliard are highly selective and audition-based, attracting applicants who also audition for conservatories like Curtis, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Royal College of Music, with acceptance rates comparable to elite institutions such as the Manhattan School of Music and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The audition process involves live performances, interviews, and portfolio or tape submissions assessed by panels often comprising members drawn from orchestras like the New York Philharmonic, opera companies such as La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera, and theatre companies including Broadway houses and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Tuition and fees are supplemented by scholarship programs, fellowships, and financial aid packages administered similarly to those at institutions funded by foundations like Ford, Mellon, and Rockefeller, while alumni giving and donor endowments sustain fellowship programs and artist residencies.

Notable Alumni and Faculty

Alumni have included internationally recognized performers, composers, conductors, choreographers, and actors who have worked with ensembles and organizations such as the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Royal Ballet, Broadway productions, Hollywood studios, and major record labels including Columbia Records and Deutsche Grammophon; names associated by collaboration or influence include Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, Philip Glass, Renée Fleming, Itzhak Perlman, Alan Gilbert, Robert De Niro, Viola Davis, and Robin Williams. Faculty and visiting artists have connections to institutions and figures such as Martha Graham, Pierre Boulez, Luciano Pavarotti, Herbert von Karajan, Aaron Copland, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, and Stephen Sondheim, while graduates have received awards like the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award, the Grammy Award, the Academy Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, and the Kennedy Center Honors.

Community Engagement and Outreach

Juilliard’s outreach initiatives include education programs in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, community concerts at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and collaborative projects with the Metropolitan Opera, Public Theater, and the City Center that mirror community engagement models used by the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Programs include pre-college divisions akin to those at Curtis and Mannes, summer institutes, artist residencies, and community workshops that have connected Juilliard artists with cultural institutions like the Bronx Museum, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and local public schools, while international tours have aligned the school with festivals such as Salzburg, Edinburgh, and Tanglewood.

Category:Conservatories in the United States