Rick Benjamin is the founder and conductor of the world-renowned Paragon Ragtime Orchestra . Benjamin has an active career as a pianist and tubist as well as an arranger.
113-500: Benjamin's interest in ragtime music began in the 1970s when he was eight years old and found a 1917 Victorola in his grandparents' garage. He later recalled that the music he played on the Victorola connected with him in a way that the pop music of his era did not. He said, "I knew in my bones that these performers and their composers were expressing their sheer joy in life through their music." Benjamin's interest persisted in ragtime,
226-455: A board of trustees , executive officers , and senior administrators . The board of trustees includes approximately thirty members, with a chair and two vice-chairs, and is responsible for appointing Juilliard's president and managing the school's business affairs. Executive offices include the offices of the president and provost . Four administrators serve each as dean and director of the dance, music, drama, and preparatory divisions. There
339-527: A "ragtime opera", though Joplin did not refer to it as such and it encompasses a wide range of musical styles. The music of Treemonisha includes an overture and prelude , along with various recitatives , choruses , small ensemble pieces, a ballet , and a few arias . The opera was largely unknown before its first complete performance in 1972. Joplin was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1976 for Treemonisha . The performance
452-482: A 1997 interview with the Herald & Review , he explained the presence of these rare pieces: "Anybody who was anybody in that era would send their scores to Mr. Pryor in hopes that they would be recorded" for Victrola. In 1986 Benjamin decided to form a 14-piece orchestra of fellow Juilliard students to perform the music as it had been originally arranged during the period. Benjamin made a request to Juilliard to perform
565-431: A concert of turn-of-the-20th-century American composers but his request was rejected by Juilliard's dean, who felt Juilliard should focus on traditional composers. Benjamin scheduled a Mozart program on solo tuba at a concert hall, but instead led a group in performing ragtime music, leaving open the doors to draw in a wider crowd. Before a full house, Benjamin's group played selections by Irving Berlin and Victor Herbert ,
678-407: A connection between the character Treemonisha's wish to lead her people out of ignorance, and a similar desire in the composer. Lottie Joplin also describes Treemonisha as a spirit who would speak to him while Scott Joplin played the piano, and she would "shape" the composition. "She'd tell him secrets. She'd tell him the past and the future," said Lottie Joplin. Treemonisha was an entity present while
791-604: A decade altering it to suit the kind of 12-piece theater pit orchestra prevalent in Joplin's day. In October 2005 Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra premiered his version of Treemonisha on the East Coast at Wake Forest University . Benjamin has expressed his hope that his simpler orchestration will allow the material to be presented in more modest venues, indicating that Joplin never intended for
904-492: A graduation rate of 94%. Of the undergraduate degrees, 87 were in music, 20 in dance, and nine in drama. The school conferred 132 Master of Music Degrees and eight Master of Fine Arts Degrees in drama. Juilliard has made efforts to diversify its student body and program. In 2001, the conservatory introduced a Jazz Studies Program, which Wynton Marsalis currently directs. The school launched an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) initiative in 2018, which includes
1017-536: A group of singers. The concert commemorated the recent publication of Joplin's collected works, which had been compiled and edited by Vera Brodsky Lawrence . The world premiere took place on January 27, 1972, as a joint production of the music department of Morehouse College and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Atlanta, Georgia, using the orchestration by T. J. Anderson . The performance
1130-426: A kind of pre- blues music, spirituals , and a call-and-response style scene featuring a preacher and congregation. The opera celebrates African-American music and culture while stressing that education is the salvation of African Americans. The heroine and symbolic educator is Treemonisha, who runs into trouble with a local band of conjurers, who kidnap her. Joplin completed Treemonisha in 1910 , and paid for
1243-529: A live audition, sometimes with additional callbacks. After auditions, the school invites select applicants to meet with a program administrator. Admission to the Juilliard School is highly competitive, as it ranks among the most selective schools in the United States. In 2007, the school received 2,138 applications for admission, of which 162 were admitted for a 7.6% acceptance rate. For
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#17327937573731356-438: A performer's professional career. These include undergraduate and graduate programs in dance, drama, and music. Musicians and performers can also complete Artist Diploma programs in jazz studies, performance, opera, playwriting, and string quartet studies. The Pre-College Division teaches students enrolled in elementary, junior high , and high school. The Pre-College Division is conducted every Saturday from September to May in
1469-568: A piano-vocal score to be published in 1911. At the time of the publication, he sent a copy of the score to the American Musician and Art Journal . Treemonisha received a glowing, full-page review in the June issue. The review said it was an "entirely new phase of musical art and ... a thoroughly American opera (style)." This affirmed Joplin's goal of creating a distinctive form of African-American opera. Despite this endorsement,
1582-526: A research paper on Arthur Pryor , an 1890s trombonist , conductor and music director. Pryor was an influential figure in the early history of the Victrola, as he had served as first conductor for the company that produced them, Victor Talking Machine Co., and had accordingly been able to decide himself what recordings were released for the machine. Benjamin learned that an old theater in Asbury, New Jersey that
1695-630: A return to it". Aside from a concert-style performance in 1915 of the ballet Frolic of the Bears from act 2, by the Martin-Smith Music School, the opera was forgotten until 1970, when the score was rediscovered. On October 22, 1971, excerpts from Treemonisha were presented in a concert at the Lincoln Center Library , with musical performances by William Bolcom , Joshua Rifkin and Mary Lou Williams joining
1808-476: A sacred tree under which Treemonisha is found recalls the tree from which Siegmund takes his enchanted sword in Die Walküre . The recounting of the heroine's origins echos aspects of the opera Siegfried . African-American folk tales also influence the story; for instance, the wasp nest incident is similar to the story of Br'er Rabbit and the briar patch. Treemonisha is not a ragtime opera. Joplin used
1921-703: A second-year extension and receive an Artist Diploma. The Andrew W. Mellon Artist Diploma Program for Theatre Directors was a two-year graduate fellowship that began in 1995 (expanded to three years in 1997); this was discontinued in the fall of 2006. The Music Division is the largest of the school's divisions. Available degrees are Bachelor of Music or Diploma, Master of Music or Graduate Diploma , Artist Diploma and Doctor of Musical Arts . Academic majors are brass , collaborative piano, composition, guitar , harp , historical performance, jazz studies, orchestral conducting , organ , percussion , piano , strings , voice , and woodwinds . The largest music department
2034-1032: A single campus at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts , comprising numerous studio rooms, performance halls, a library with special collections, and a dormitory . It has one of the lowest acceptance rates of schools in the United States. With a total enrollment of about 950 students, Juilliard has several student and faculty ensembles that perform throughout the year, most notably the Juilliard String Quartet . Juilliard alumni have won 105 Grammy Awards , 62 Tony Awards , 47 Emmy Awards , and 24 Academy Awards , including two alumni with EGOTs . Musicians from Juilliard have pursued careers as international virtuosos and concertmasters of professional symphony orchestras . Its alumni and faculty include more than 16 Pulitzer Prize and 12 National Medal of Arts recipients. In 1905,
2147-565: A task force and provides workshops for all faculty and staff. Student Diversity Initiatives provide students forums and activities to educate the community on diversity, internationalism, culture and social justice. In the same year, Alicia Graf Mack , who previously danced with the Dance Theatre of Harlem , became the school's first black dance director. The school has recently invested in funding for minority students and schoolchildren to address inequalities. However, some have criticized
2260-706: A variety of composers, including T. J. Anderson, Gunther Schuller , and most recently, Rick Benjamin . Since its premiere, Treemonisha has been performed all over the United States, at venues such as the Houston Grand Opera (twice, once with Schuller's 1982 orchestration), the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and in 1975 at the Uris Theatre on Broadway , to overwhelming critical and public acclaim. Opera historian Elise Kirk noted that
2373-440: Is Juilliard's string department, followed by the piano department. The collaborative piano, historical performance, and orchestral conducting programs are solely at the graduate level; the opera studies and music performance subprograms only offer Artist Diplomas. The Juilliard Vocal Arts department now incorporates the former Juilliard Opera Center. The school's non-degree diploma programs are for specialized training to advance
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#17327937573732486-753: Is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City . Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named after its principal benefactor Augustus D. Juilliard . The school is composed of three primary academic divisions: dance, drama, and music, of which the last is the largest and oldest. Juilliard offers degrees for undergraduate and graduate students and liberal arts courses, non-degree diploma programs for professional artists, and musical training for pre-college students. Juilliard has
2599-434: Is abducted and is about to be thrown into a wasps' nest when her friend Remus rescues her. The community realizes the value of education and the liability of their ignorance before choosing her as their teacher and leader. The opera opens with Zodzetrick, a conjurer, attempting to sell a bag of luck to Monisha ("The Bag of Luck"). However, her husband, Ned, wards him off. As Zodzetrick slinks away, Treemonisha and Remus hear
2712-661: Is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), with its last reaffirmation in 2020. Juilliard admits both degree program seekers and pre-college division students. The latter enter a conservatory program for younger students to develop their skills; All applicants who wish to enroll in the Music Advancement Program, for the Pre-College Division, must perform an audition in person before members of
2825-755: Is an additional director for the jazz program. Other academic subdivisions include the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts and Lila Acheson Wallace Library. The vice president holds the position of chief advancement officer and manages the development of the school. Other administrative areas include the chief operating officer and corporate secretary, the public affairs office, and enrollment management and student development. The Juilliard School has ties with higher education institutions such as Barnard College , Columbia University , and Fordham University and has associations with Nord Anglia Education for primary and secondary education since 2015. The school
2938-416: Is bound, strange creatures perform a dance number about her ("Frolic of the Bears"). Simon and Cephus then take Treemonisha to be thrown in a giant wasps' nest ("The Wasp Nest"), but Remus arrives just in time, masquerading as the devil, scaring the conjurers away ("The Rescue"). The next scene opens on another plantation, where four laborers perform a quartet about having a break ("We Will Rest Awhile / Song of
3051-638: Is one of the world's largest collections of Steinway and Son's pianos in the space of concert halls and practice rooms. Pipe organs at Juilliard include those by Holtkamp (III/57, III/44, II/7), Schoenstein (III/12), Flentrop (II/17), Noack (II/3) and Kuhn (IV/85), which are located in various practice rooms and recital halls. The strings department allows students to borrow valuable historic stringed instruments for special concerts and competitions. There are more than 200 such stringed instruments, including several by Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù . The Lila Acheson Wallace Library
3164-447: Is sacred. Monisha performs an aria, talking of Treemonisha's discovery under the tree ("The Sacred Tree"). Treemonisha is distraught to learn Monisha and Ned aren't her true parents and laments over it ("Surprised"). Monisha then tells of how Treemonisha was brought up and educated ("Treemonisha's Bringing Up"). Parson Alltalk then arrives in a wagon, talking to the neighborhood and confirming their belief in superstition. Whilst he distracts
3277-407: Is similar: "In the end, Treemonisha offered a celebration of literacy, learning, hard work, and community solidarity as the best formula for advancing the race." Berlin describes it as a "fine opera, certainly more interesting than most operas then being written in the United States". By contrast, he says that Joplin's libretto showed the composer "was not a competent dramatist" and that the libretto
3390-523: Is the main library at Juilliard that holds study scores, performance and sound recordings, books, and videos. The school's archives include manuscript collections with digitized holographs . The library has over 87,000 musical scores and 25,000 sound recordings. The Peter Jay Sharp Special Collections features the Igor and Soulima Stravinsky Collection, the Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale Collection, and
3503-621: The Big Five American Orchestras and half of the New York Philharmonic . Juilliard's endowment nearly tripled over the 1980s, reaching a quarter billion in the mid-1990s. Despite high tuition, on average, over 90 percent of accepted students ended up attending the school. In 1999, the Juilliard School was awarded the National Medal of Arts and became the first educational institution to receive
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3616-601: The Eugène Ysaÿe Collection. The school acquired the Juilliard Manuscript Collection in 2006, which includes autograph scores, sketches, composer-emended proofs and first editions of major works by Mozart , Bach , Beethoven , Brahms , Schumann , Chopin , Schubert , Liszt , Ravel , Stravinsky , Copland , and other composers of the classical music canon. Many of the manuscripts had been unavailable for generations. Among
3729-1331: The Staatsschauspiel Dresden in April 2015. There were four performances in August 2019 at the Arcola Theatre , London (UK), as part of the Grimeborn Festival. A performance of Treemonisha was staged at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France In 2022, the 28-member Isango Ensemble of Cape Town , South Africa premiered a reimagined version of Treemonisha at Théâtre de Caen in Caen , France . Directed by Mark Dornford-May and Paulina Malefane, with music direction by Mandisi Dyantyis, and choreography by Lungelo Ngamlana, this production of Treemonisha transposes Joplin's score to marimba and features musicians and singers in dual roles. Conductor Andre Kostelanetz recorded orchestral selections from Treemonisha in 1976 for Columbia Records . In 1997, Aaron Robinson conducted Treemonisha: The Concert Version at
3842-511: The World's Fair held in Seville , Spain , Benjamin and his orchestra were the "Ambassador of Goodwill." Because orchestras by their nature and tradition are much more fluid in regards to personnel, there are 36 players on the payroll of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and their appearance at a particular performance depends on a wide variety of criteria including the number of players called for by
3955-538: The "opera" to depend on a large orchestra. Describing the work as "unpretentious", he notes that the opera "is much more an amalgamation of the well-established American traditions of vaudeville, tab-show, melodrama, and minstrelsy, all held together by Joplin's marvelous music." He told the Wake Forest University newspaper that Joplin's "real dream was to give everyday people the opportunity, perhaps their only one, to experience opera on their own terms in
4068-464: The 1890s and 21 songs from the period ranging 1905 to 1920 which Benjamin had found among Pryor's papers. Allan Kozinn for the New York Times remarked particularly on the variety of the "abidingly energetic fun" performance, which included "a concert waltz, a maxixe, one-steps, two-steps, foxtrots and blues, and, of course, numerous rags, some quite picturesque." In February 1999, Benjamin and
4181-528: The 1960s and 1970s, include Itzhak Perlman , Yo-Yo Ma , Leontyne Price , Kyung Wha Chung , and Pinchas Zukerman , among others. In the 1950s, the school received international attention when alumni Van Cliburn won the International Tchaikovsky Competition . In 1968, Mennin hired John Houseman to manage the new Drama Division as director and Michel Saint-Denis as associate director and consultant. The School's name
4294-737: The 1976 Houston Grand Opera production and recording, this production used Joplin's original dialect. In June 2003 Rick Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra premiered their version of Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco. An extensively annotated 204-page book and two-CD recording of Benjamin's orchestration was released in 2011. In June 2023, Scott Joplin's Treemonisha - A Musical Reimagining produced by Volcano Theatre Company, in association with Canadian Opera Company , Soulpepper , and Moveable Beast has its world premiere at
4407-566: The 2000s. In 2006, Juilliard obtained a trove of precious music manuscripts from board chair and philanthropist Bruce Kovner that make up the Juilliard Manuscript Collection. Philanthropist James S. Marcus donated $ 10 million to the school to establish the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts at the school in 2010. In 2014, Kovner gave $ 60 million for the Kovner Fellowship Program to provide expenses for exceptionally gifted students. On September 28, 2015,
4520-580: The Arts (CIA), formerly called the Music Technology Center, at the Juilliard School was created in 1993 to provide students with the opportunity to use digital technology in the creation and performance of new music. Since then, the program has expanded to include a wide offering of classes such as, Introduction to Music Technology , Music Production , Film scoring , Computers In Performance and an Independent Study In Composition. In 2009,
4633-718: The Bluma Appel Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto . The staging featured orchestrations and arrangements by Jessie Montgomery and Jannina Norpoth, with book and libretto adapted by Leah-Simone Bowen . Europe saw staged versions in Venice (Italy), Helsinki (Finland) and Gießen (Germany). After the German premiere at the Stadttheater Gießen in 1984, Germany saw another stage version at
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4746-598: The Cotton Pickers"). Treemonisha and Remus then arrive, and ask for directions to the John Smith plantation. Once they have left, the workers hear a horn, and celebrate that their work is finished for the day ("Aunt Dinah has Blowed de Horn"). The third act opens with a prelude ("Prelude to Act 3") in an abandoned plantation. Back in the neighborhood, Monisha and Ned mourn about Treemonisha's disappearance ("I Want to See My Child"). When Remus and Treemonisha return,
4859-827: The Dance Division, offered performance opportunities through the Juilliard Dance Theatre (1954–1958) and later the Juilliard Dance Ensemble (founded c. 1960 ), which often collaborated with the Juilliard Orchestra. For many years, the Juilliard Dance Department shared facilities with the School of American Ballet .{sfn|Olmstead|1999|pages=194–215}} In 1957, after two years of deliberation,
4972-933: The Glorya Kaufman Dance Studio, Stephanie P. McClelland Drama Theater, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Drama Studio, the Judith Harris and Tony Woolfson Orchestral Studio, and Edwin and Nancy Marks Jazz Rehearsal Room. Recital halls include the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Paul Recital Hall, and the Morse Recital Hall. The building also houses the Alice Tully Hall , where the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center performs. Adjacent to
5085-517: The Hollywood Reporter's 2022 listing of the top-ranked music schools in the world, Juilliard ranked fourth. The Juilliard School enrolled 492 full-time undergraduates, 114 part-time undergraduates and 374 graduate students as of the 2019–2020 school year. Women made up 47% of all the students enrolled. The retention rate for that academic year was 94%. That same year, Juilliard awarded 116 Bachelor's Degrees and 140 Master's Degrees and had
5198-654: The Institute of Musical Art (IMA), Juilliard's predecessor institution, was founded by Frank Damrosch , a German-American conductor and godson of Franz Liszt , on the premise that the United States did not have a premier music school and too many students were going to Europe to study music. Chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York , the institute became one of first endowed music schools in
5311-543: The Juilliard Building at Lincoln Center. All students study solfège and music theory in addition to their primary instrument. Vocal majors must also study diction and performance. Similarly, pianists must study piano performance. String, brass and woodwind players, as well as percussionists, also participate in orchestra. The pre-college has two orchestras, the Pre-College Symphony (PCS) and
5424-711: The Juilliard Chinese Student & Scholars Association (J-CSSA), the Juilliard Christian Fellowship (JCF) and the Juilliard Green Club, among others. Juilliard does not have any fraternities or sororities . In the 1980s, Juilliard students assembled an ice hockey team called the Fighting Penguins to compete against a faculty team. The naming of the teams became the first usage of the penguin as
5537-419: The Juilliard School announced a major expansion into Tianjin during a visit by China's first lady, Peng Liyuan , the institution's first such full-scale foray outside the United States. The school opened in 2020 and offers a Master of Music degree program. In May 2017, retired New York City Ballet principal dancer Damian Woetzel was named president, replacing Joseph W. Polisi. From March 2020 through
5650-518: The Juilliard School of Music board announced that the school would relocate from upper Manhattan to the future Lincoln Center . The Lincoln Center would cover the costs for the construction project, but the school would have to instruct exclusively advanced students, introduce a drama program and cut its Preparatory School. Juilliard's new building at Lincoln Center would be designed by Pietro Belluschi with associates Eduardo Catalano and Helge Westermann. The Juilliard School building at Lincoln Center
5763-635: The Juilliard Summer School and Music Education Program, and opened Juilliard's admission to non-Americans. Schuman discontinued the Theory Department and initiated a new curriculum called the Literature and Materials of Music (L&M), which began in 1947–1948, and was based on the assumption that musical theory education "should transfer theoretical knowledge into practical performance." Designed for composers to teach,
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#17327937573735876-529: The Juilliard building is the Samuel B. & David Rose Building, which is the home of the school's Meredith Willson Residence Hall, named after the composer, conductor and Juilliard alumni Meredith Willson . The building consists of student dormitories, faculty suites, and studios for visiting artists. and is also home to the School of American Ballet . Juilliard's leadership and administration consist of
5989-766: The Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program after her. Juilliard's longest-serving president Joseph W. Polisi (1984–2017), helped the school modernize by developing educational outreach, formalizing and expanding its music programs, establishing interdisciplinary programs and reforming the school's finances. In 1991, Polisi founded the Music Advancement Program (MAP) to help underrepresented students affected by music education budget cuts throughout public schools in New York . Between 1990 and 1993, individual departments for all instruments and voice were established,
6102-532: The Merideth Wilson Residence Hall was built next to the school, salaries for teachers were increased, and the school hoped to accept fewer people and eventually cut 100 students to allow for more funding. In 2001, the school established a jazz performance training program. By the end of the 20th century, Juilliard had established itself as a prestigious performing arts school. At the time, graduates comprised approximately 20 percent of
6215-561: The Music Technology Center moved to a new, state of the art facility that includes a mix and record suite and a digital "playroom" for composing and rehearsing with technology. Together with the Willson Theater, the Center for Innovation in the Arts is the home of interdisciplinary and electro-acoustic projects and performances at the Juilliard School. The Juilliard School has about 275 pianos, of which 231 are Steinway grand pianos. It
6328-844: The New Jersey Symphony, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Brucknerhaus in Linz, Austria. Benjamin is a touring lecturer and a published author and wrote liner notes on New World Records In addition to curating the collection of Arthur Prior, Benjamin also curates the collections of Simone Mantia , B.F. Alart, and Frank H. Wells and has worked with archivists and historians including Thornton 'Tony Hagert 's Vernacular Music Research In
6441-455: The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra premiered Oh, You Kid! at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, in collaboration with the Paul Taylor Dance Company . The work was commissioned under the Doris Duke Millennium Awards for Modern Dance and Jazz Music of the Kennedy Center and American Dance Festival, which promotes such pairings. Anna Kisselgoff wrote in the New York Times that the show was "exuberant romp to ragtime music." In June 2003 Benjamin and
6554-433: The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra premiered their version of Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha at the Stern Grove Festival, the oldest festival of its kind in the United States, hosted in an amphitheater in San Francisco. Treemonisha had originally premiered in 1975 with full professional staging by the Houston Grand Opera , but Benjamin thought that the Houston staging was "too heavy, too Verdiesque" and spent nearly half of
6667-428: The Pre-College Division to thrive, affording its graduates training at the highest artistic level (with many of the same teachers as the college division), as well as their own commencement ceremony and diplomas. In addition to Fuschi, directors of Juilliard's Pre-College Division have included composer Dr. Andrew Thomas . The current director of the Pre-College Division is Yoheved Kaplinsky. The Center for Innovation in
6780-454: The Pre-College Orchestra (PCO). Placement is by age and students may elect to study conducting, chorus, and chamber music. The Pre-College Division began as the Preparatory Centers (later the Preparatory Division), part of the Institute of Musical Art since 1916. The Pre-College Division was established in 1969 with Katherine McC. Ellis as its first director. Olegna Fuschi served as director from 1975 to 1988. The Fuschi/Mennin partnership allowed
6893-505: The Rockport Opera House in Rockport, Maine , with a new libretto by Judith Kurtz Bogdanove. In June 2008 Sue Keller produced and arranged an abridged orchestral-choral rendition of Treemonisha . The production was commissioned by the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation. A new arrangement for singers and brass band (4 trumpets, 4 trombones, French horn, tuba) had been commissioned from German composer Stefan Beyer. A suite from Treemonisha arranged by Gunther Schuller
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#17327937573737006-477: The US, with significant funding provided by philanthropist and banker James Loeb . Damrosch and Loeb's mission was to establish a musical institution with high standards of teaching and learning that would incorporate a unified pedagogy and develop a "true musical culture among all classes". Accordingly, the school would rely on its endowment to ensure the quality of instruction was independent of students' financial status. The Institute of Musical Art opened in
7119-495: The W.C. Handy's "Memphis Blues" and Joplin's "Peacherine Two-Step." One witness to the event, Juilliard professor Vincent Persichetti , approached Benjamin after the concert was over to encourage him to make it his "life's work" to preserve "America's original music." The concert did not go over well with the dean, who put Benjamin on probation for it, but it had a much more positive impact on Grammy award winning Columbia Records executive Thomas Frost , who to Benjamin's surprise
7232-456: The award. In September 2005, Colin Davis conducted an orchestra that combined students from the Juilliard and London's Royal Academy of Music at the BBC Proms , and during 2008 the Juilliard Orchestra embarked on a successful tour of China, performing concerts as part of the Cultural Olympiad in Beijing, Suzhou , and Shanghai under the expert leadership of Maestro Xian Zhang . The school has received various gifts and donations since
7345-400: The conjurers ("Conjurers Forgiven"), and sets them both free. Luddud decides to abandon conjuring, but Zodzetrick insists that he will never change his ways. The neighborhood then elect Treemonisha as their new leader ("We Will Trust You As Our Leader"), and they celebrate with a closing dance ("A Real Slow Drag"). 1972 Atlanta World Premiere Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Joplin wrote both
7458-410: The faculty and administration and must be between ages 8 and 18. The Juilliard admissions program comprises several distinct steps. Applicants must submit a complete application, school transcripts, and recommendations; some majors also require that applicants submit prescreening recordings of their work, which are evaluated as part of the application. A limited number of applicants are then invited to
7571-442: The fall semester of 2009, the school had an 8.0% acceptance rate. In 2011, the school accepted 5.5% of applicants. For Fall 2012, 2,657 undergraduate applicants were received by the college division and 7.2% were accepted. The 75th percentile accepted into Juilliard in 2012 had a GPA of 3.96 and an SAT score of 1350. A cross-registration program is available with Columbia University where Juilliard students who are accepted to
7684-451: The films they were created to accompany. Silent movies for which they perform the score include Buster Keaton 's Cops , Harold Lloyd 's Never Weaken , and Charlie Chaplin 's The Immigrant . Another movie that Benjamin performs with his orchestra is 'The Mark Of Zorro' starring Douglas Fairbanks. Benjamin has expressed surprise that " Generation X " has responded so favorably to the music, suggesting in 1997 that younger listeners may resist
7797-463: The first Pulitzer Prize for Music winner, led the school from 1945 to 1961 and brought about several significant changes to raise the school's academic standards. In 1946, Schuman completely consolidated the Institute of Musical Art and the Juilliard Graduate School to form a single institution and created the Juilliard String Quartet as the school's main quartet-in-residence. During his tenure, Schuman cut down enrollment by more than half, eliminated
7910-408: The first popular music conceived and created by Americans in an era where popular songs were brought over from Germany or England. Benjamin went to Juilliard with intentions to make his living playing the tuba . When his jaw was wired shut after his teeth were inadvertently shattered during a tooth extraction, he found himself temporarily unable to play that instrument and instead focused on writing
8023-476: The folks singing and excitedly prepare for the day ("The Corn Huskers"). Treemonisha then asks if they would like a ring play before they worked. They accept, and Andy leads the folks in a song and dance ("We're Goin' Around"). When the folks have finished dancing, Treemonisha notices that the women wear wreaths on their heads, and she herself tries to acquire one from a tree ("The Wreath"). However, Monisha stops her in her tracks, and tells her of how this certain tree
8136-476: The folks, the conjurers kidnap Treemonisha ("Good Advice"). Once Alltalk leaves, the neighborhood realizes Treemonisha is gone ("Confusion"). Remus sets out to rescue Treemonisha. Act 2 opens with Simon, another conjurer, singing of superstition ("Superstition"). Zodzetrick, Luddud and Cephus then debate on Treemonisha's punishment for foiling their plans earlier in the day ("Treemonisha in Peril"). Whilst Treemonisha
8249-431: The former Lenox Mansion, Fifth Avenue and 12th Street, on October 11, 1905. When the school opened, most teachers were European; however, only Americans were allowed to study at the institute. Although orchestras were exclusively male, women made up most of the student population. The school had 467 students in the first year, but the enrollment soon doubled in size over the following years. Five years after its inception,
8362-675: The foundation purchased the Vanderbilt family guesthouse at 49 E. 52nd Street , and established a separate new music school, the Juilliard Graduate School (JGS), in 1924. After much discussion, the Juilliard School of Music was eventually created in 1926 through a merger of the Institute and the Graduate School. The JGS moved from E 52nd Street to 130 Claremont Avenue next to the IMA in 1931. The two schools had
8475-715: The institute moved to 120 Claremont Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan onto a property purchased from Bloomingdale Insane Asylum near the Columbia University campus. In 1919, a wealthy textile merchant named Augustus D. Juilliard died and left a vast sum of money for the advancement of music in his will, which set up the Juilliard Musical Foundation (JMF) a year later as one of its primary beneficiaries. Under Eugene Noble as executive secretary,
8588-639: The items are the printer's manuscript of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony , complete with Beethoven's handwritten amendments, that was used for the first performance in Vienna in 1824; Mozart's autograph of the wind parts of the final scene of The Marriage of Figaro ; Beethoven's arrangement of his monumental Große Fuge for piano four hands; Schumann's working draft of his Symphony No. 2 ; and manuscripts of Brahms's Symphony No. 2 and Piano Concerto No. 2 . The entire collection has since been digitized and can be viewed online. Juilliard consistently ranks as one of
8701-792: The more commercially oriented music "crammed down their throats." Benjamin and his orchestra also have performed for diverse radio programs on New York Times' WQXR , National Public Radio , the British Broadcasting Corporation , and the Voice of America networks, and Benjamin has conducted the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra (Denmark), the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra , Olympia Symphony in Washington State,
8814-477: The more practical-orientated curriculum would provide an overview of the "literature of music". L&M was a reaction against more formal theory and ear training, and as a result did not have a formal structure and allowed for more flexibility. Schuman established the school's Dance Department under Martha Hill 's direction in 1951, intending that students in the program would receive an education in dance , choreography , and music. The department, later renamed
8927-555: The music halls and neighborhood theaters." In another interview, for the San Francisco Chronicle , Benjamin indicated that Joplin was probably himself barred from opera during his day because he was black, but expressed his belief that Joplin realized opera's ability to speak to the public. He has recently recorded the opera for New World Records. Benjamin has an extensive collection of period cinema-orchestra scores which his orchestra performs along with broadcasting of
9040-450: The neighborhood celebrate, and show that they have captured two of the conjurers, Zodzetrick and Luddud ("Treemonisha's Return"). Remus then lectures about good and evil ("Wrong is Never Right (A Lecture)"). Andy still wants to punish the conjurers, and riles up the neighborhood to attack them ("Abuse"). Ned then lectures the conjurers about their own nature ("When Villains Ramble Far and Near (A Lecture)"). Treemonisha persuades Andy to forgive
9153-549: The opera and shared its performing rights, serves as artistic consultant. In 1981 the company revived that staging and produced a video of the production for PBS by Sidney Smith. This used the Schuller orchestration and starred Carmen Balthrop as Treemonisha, Delores Ivory as Monisha, and Obba Babatundé as Zodzetrick. Deutsche Grammophon had previously released the audio version of this production on LPs in 1976. A fully orchestrated and costumed production of Treemonisha
9266-492: The opera slumbered in oblivion for more than half a century before making a triumphant Broadway debut. It was also recorded commercially in its entirety – the earliest African American opera to achieve that distinction and the earliest to receive widespread modern recognition and performance. Joplin's ambition was for Treemonisha to be both a serious opera in the European tradition and an entertaining piece of music. He drew on
9379-438: The opera was "a tribute to [Freddie, his second wife] the woman he loved, a woman other biographers never even mentioned." He also notes that in the opera, the title character receives her education in a white woman's home. Berlin and other music historians, along with Joplin's widow, have noted similarities between this element of the opera's story and Joplin's own childhood music and other lessons with Julius Weiss . Treemonisha,
9492-622: The opera was never fully staged during his lifetime. Its sole performance was a concert read-through in 1915 with Joplin at the piano, at the Lincoln Theater in Harlem , New York, paid for by Joplin. One of Joplin's friends, Sam Patterson, described this performance as "thin and unconvincing, little better than a rehearsal ... its special quality (would have been) lost on the typical Harlem audience (that was) sophisticated enough to reject their folk past but not sufficiently so to relish
9605-985: The orchestra since 1989. Cullen studied at the Juilliard School and is an adjunct at Bucknell University. Cullen has appeared at the Ravinia Festival, The Kennedy Center, Chautauqua, and the Smithsonian Institution. Cullen is a native of Lawton, Oklahoma and was the former artist-in-residence for the State Arts Council of Oklahoma. Cullen has also played with the Royale Trio and the Linden Woodwind Quintet. In addition to his work with his orchestra, Benjamin lectures at Bucknell University and Susquehanna University near his home in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Benjamin
9718-531: The piece was being created and was part of the process. At the time of the opera's publication in 1911, the American Musician and Art Journal praised it as "an entirely new form of operatic art". Later critics have also praised the opera as occupying a special place in American history, with its heroine "a startlingly early voice for modern civil rights causes, notably the importance of education and knowledge to African American advancement." Curtis's conclusion
9831-686: The program are able to attend Columbia classes, and vice versa. The program is highly selective, admitting 10–12 students from Juilliard per year. Columbia students also have the option of pursuing an accelerated Master of Music degree at Juilliard and obtaining a bachelor's degree at Barnard or Columbia and an MM from Juilliard in five (or potentially six, for voice majors) years. The school offers courses in dance, drama, and music. All Bachelor's and Master's degree programs require credits from Liberal Arts courses, which include seminar classes on writing, literature, history, culture, gender, philosophy, environment, and modern languages. The Dance Division
9944-470: The protagonist of the opera, is a black teenager who was educated by a white woman, "just as Joplin received his education from a white music teacher". Historian Larry Wolz agrees, noting that the "influence of mid-nineteenth-century German operatic style" is quite obvious in Treemonisha , which he attributes to Joplin learning from Weiss. Berlin notes that Lottie Joplin (the composer's third wife) saw
10057-405: The publisher of the music, and of the arrangement. Some of the orchestra's programs of historic theater music call for from 25 to 30 musicians and some of the grand silent film scores call for over 70 players, so the orchestra has to hire out when they perform these programs. The Road Manager for the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra is Leslie Cullen who also plays flute and piccolo and has been a member of
10170-594: The ragtime idiom only in the dance episodes. Historians have speculated that Joplin's second wife, Freddie Alexander, may have inspired the opera. Like the title character, she was educated, well-read, and known to be a proponent of women's rights and African-American culture. Joplin set the work in September 1884, the month and year of Alexander's birth, which contributes to that theory. Joplin biographer Edward A. Berlin has said that Treemonisha may have expressed other aspects of Joplin's life. Berlin said that
10283-541: The same board of directors and president but maintained their distinct identities. Columbia University Professor John Erskine became the first president of the two institutions (1928–1937). Frank Damrosch continued as the Institute's dean, and the Australian pianist and composer Ernest Hutcheson was appointed dean of the Graduate School. Hutcheson later served as president from 1937 to 1945. Juilliard's third president, William Schuman , an American composer and
10396-470: The school scored 100 out of 100 for academic reputation and 69.2 for employer reputation for an overall score of 93.8. Juilliard and the Curtis Institute of Music were the only two American conservatories that made the top 10 in the 2022 QS World Rankings in performing arts. In another report, The Hollywood Reporter ranked the school first among drama schools in the world in 2021. According to
10509-595: The school's lack of diversity in its faculty and curriculum and focus on primarily Western Classical Music . The Juilliard Black Student Union (JBSU) was founded in the fall of 2016. A group of students established the Alliance for Latin American & Spanish Students (ALAS) in the summer of 2018. The political organization, the Socialist Penguins, was created in 2021 to encourage "anti-capitalist and anti-racist discussions." Other Juilliard clubs include
10622-412: The school's mascot. Later in the 1980s, the school had several running and racing events and a tennis team from the 1970s to 1990s. Today, there is a faculty-staff softball team and the student Juilliard Volleyball Club. However, no varsity teams play for the school. Treemonisha Treemonisha (1911) is an opera by American ragtime composer Scott Joplin . It is sometimes referred to as
10735-404: The score and the libretto for the opera, which largely follows the form of European opera with many conventional arias, ensembles and choruses. In addition the themes of superstition and mysticism, which are evident in Treemonisha , are common in the operatic tradition. Certain aspects of the plot are similar to devices in the work of the German composer Richard Wagner (of which Joplin was aware);
10848-410: The score(s) to be performed. The score for the silent motion picture Zorro was written for 12 instruments while the orchestra's ragtime program is scored for 10 or 11 players, depending on the publisher and arranger. The main set-up for a theater orchestra of the era was 5 strings, 1 flute, 1/2 clarinets, 1/2 cornets, 1 trombone, Piano/Conductor and percussion. Variations on the instrumentation depended on
10961-474: The spring 2021 semester, the school switched to online classes and suspended live performances in response to the COVID-19 pandemic . In June 2021, members of the student group The Socialist Penguins organized a protest against rising tuition costs after claiming that they "weren't being listened to" when meeting with president and provost about the tuition fees. In September, the school's Evening Division
11074-464: The styles of ragtime and other black music sparingly, to convey "racial character"; but he composed more music that reflected that of his childhood at the end of the 19th century. The opera has been seen as a valuable record of such rural Southern black music from the 1870s–1890s, re-created by a "skilled and sensitive participant". Joplin was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1976 for Treemonisha . The world premiere of Treemonisha
11187-566: The top performing arts schools in the world. Since QS first published its QS World University Rankings for the subject performing arts in 2016, Juilliard held the top spot among academic institution for performing arts for six years. The school dropped its ranking to third place in 2022, falling behind the Royal College of Music and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna . As part of Juilliard's ranking criteria for 2022,
11300-400: The well-known pedagogue Renée Longy to teach solfège . Mennin organized several new programs, such as Juilliard's Master Class Program and Doctoral Music Program. Under Mennin, Juilliard's international reputation grew as several alumni won competitive international competitions.{{efn|Notable alumni, who won competitive international and national competitions and led international careers in
11413-429: Was called a "semimiracle" by music historian Gilbert Chase , who said Treemonisha "bestowed its creative vitality and moral message upon many thousands of delighted listeners and viewers" when it was recreated. The musical style of the opera is the popular romantic one of the early 20th century. It has been described as "charming and piquant and ... deeply moving", with elements of black folk songs and dances, including
11526-499: Was changed to The Juilliard School to reflect its broadened mission to educate musicians, dancers, directors, and actors. The drama department first only trained actors, of which the first class graduated as Group 1 in 1972, but added playwrights and directors programs in the 1990s. Houseman founded The Acting Company in 1972, which allowed Juilliard students to perform and tour throughout the country. Also in 1972, Lila Acheson Wallace donated $ 5 million to Juilliard, which later named
11639-497: Was completed on October 26, 1969, officially opening with a dedication ceremony and concert. With Lincoln Center's prestige came a newly elevated status for the Juilliard School. William Schuman assumed the presidency of Lincoln Center in 1962 and composer Peter Mennin succeeded him. Mennin made substantial changes to the L&;M program—ending ear training and music history, adding performances and composition in class, and hiring
11752-518: Was directed by Katherine Dunham , former head of a noted African-American dance company in her own name, and conducted by Robert Shaw . (He was one of the first major American conductors to hire both black and white singers for his chorale ). The production was well received by both audiences and critics. The original orchestrations for Treemonisha have been completely lost, as has Joplin's first opera A Guest of Honor (1903). Subsequent performances have been produced using orchestrations created by
11865-423: Was established in 1951 by William Schuman with Martha Hill as its director. It offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts or a Diploma. Areas of study include ballet and modern and contemporary dance, with courses ranging from dance technique and performance to dance studies. Since its inception, the dance program has had a strong emphasis not only on performance but also on choreography and collaboration. The Drama Division
11978-623: Was established in 1968 by the actor John Houseman and Michel Saint-Denis . Its acting programs offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Diploma and, beginning in Fall 2012, a Master of Fine Arts . Until 2006, when James Houghton became director of the Drama Division, there was a "cut system" that would remove up to one-third of the second-year class. The Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program, begun in 1993, offers one-year, tuition-free, graduate fellowships; selected students may be offered
12091-533: Was given a recording of the concert and had within a matter of weeks arranged for the first album of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra to be released. Benjamin quit Juilliard without fanfare and has since devoted himself to his orchestra. Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra made their New York debut at the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in March 1988 with a program consisting of a medley of music from
12204-681: Was greatly encouraged in his musical career by his grandfather, J. Edward Smith, who played violin, clarinet & piano, among other instruments, throughout his life, and was a musician with the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, in Monmouth County, NJ, for many years until his death. Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra continue to perform regularly in Monmouth County, NJ venues, where both grandfather and grandson lived. Juilliard The Juilliard School ( / ˈ dʒ uː l i . ɑːr d / JOO -lee-ard )
12317-549: Was not of the same quality as the music. Treemonisha takes place in September 1884 on a former slave plantation in an isolated forest, between Texarkana, Texas (Joplin's childhood town) and the Red River in Arkansas. Treemonisha is a young freedwoman . After being taught to read by a white woman, she leads her community against the influence of conjurers, who are shown as preying on ignorance and superstition. Treemonisha
12430-540: Was presented in 1972 by the Atlanta Symphony , under Robert Shaw , and the Morehouse Glee Club, under Wendell Whalum, the production's musical director. Katherine Dunham was stage director. In 1976 the Houston Grand Opera first staged Treemonisha under music director Chris Nance and stage director Frank Corsaro . Vera Brodsky Lawrence , who had co-edited the published piano score of
12543-582: Was renamed to Juilliard Extension which would broaden to offer programs in person and online. In December of the same year, a $ 50 million gift was given to the school's Music Advancement Program to help students of underrepresented backgrounds. The Juilliard School occupies a single main building, the Irene Diamond Building, in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts , along Broadway and W 65th Street. The Juilliard building contains several large studio rooms and performance venues, such as
12656-500: Was scheduled for demolition housed Pryor's personal collection of over 4,000 pieces of music and was given permission to take it. While Benjamin did not immediately understand the value of this collection, which was thought to have been destroyed, he soon realized that among the collection were many rare musical scores and manuscripts, including unknown compositions by such composers as Scott Joplin , W.C. Handy , Edward MacDowell , Victor Herbert , Jerome Kern and John Philip Sousa . In
12769-619: Was staged in February 1991 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2000, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presented a production of Treemonisha directed by Rhoda Levine , conducted by Jeffrey Huard, and choreographed by Dianne McIntyre . The cast included Christina Clark (Treemonisha), Geraldine McMillian (Monisha), Nathan Granner (Remus), and Kevin Short (Ned). Unlike
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