Juilliard
Juilliard has been considered one of the best conservatories of performing arts in the world for decades and young people from around the world strive arduously to gain admittance to its elite halls. Founded in 1905, as The Institute of Musical Art, this year U.S. News and World Report listed it as one America’s best colleges (2008).
Dr. Frank Damrosch the head of music education for New York City’s public schools and his friend James Loeb( a wealthy New York financier) created the Institute as an answer to students who thought they had to go abroad in order to study music and performing arts. The school’s first home was at 5th Avenue and 12th Street, but it out grew the facility and moved in 1910 to Claremont Avenue.
The Juilliard School, named after wealthy textile baron Augustus D. Julliard, who bequeathed a huge amount of money upon his death to the “advancement of music”, in 1919, was opened in 1924. The trustees of the estate founded the Julliard Graduate School with a mission to help music students attain an advanced education in the arts.
The Institute merged with The Juilliard Graduate School in 1926 with one president but separate deans of each section.
Eventually in 1933, the Evening Adult Education division was opened.
When composer William Schuman became president of the consortium, the merger of the two schools was finalized, and he added several new divisions to the school’s offerings. In 1946 the now very famous, String Quartet (a teaching and performing in-residence program) was started. Then in 1947, Schuman brought forth an innovative (though, at the time, controversial) music theory curriculum called “Literature and Material of Music”. This program changed how music was taught across America. Another innovative dimension he orchestrated was the Dance Division in 1951 with Martha Hill as its first director.
Schuman greatly sought after by various arts entities resigned from Juilliard in 1961 and became president of the new Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts.
The grand conductor of the Julliard expansion of programs and student body enrollment (Schuman) was succeeded by Dr. Peter Mennin. Under his leadership the Drama Division began in 1968 with John Houseman as the first director.
It was also Mennin, who moved the school to Lincoln Center in 1969 and finally presented under one school auspice, The Juilliard School, a comprehensive venue of performing arts education divisions. This transition
Tags: Best Colleges, Music Theory, String Quartet
