The Juilliard School - Performance Activities

Music Division
Performance Activities
Orchestras

Kyle Armbrust was the viola soloist in a Juilliard Orchestra concert conducted by Kurt Masur in Avery Fisher Hall. Photo by Peter Schaaf

Juilliard's performing orchestral ensembles give more than 30 concerts each season at Lincoln Center in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, as well as in Carnegie Hall and other venues around New York City. Participation in these ensembles provides a solid foundation for instrumentalists hoping to join professional orchestras. In fact, numerous Juilliard alumni have become first-chair players and section members in orchestras in both the United States and abroad. More than 15 percent of the musicians in America's seven major orchestras have studied at Juilliard; for the constituent orchestras within Lincoln Center, that number increases to more than 50 percent.

In addition to performances led by James DePreist, the director of conducting and orchestral studies, Juilliard ensembles are directed frequently by guest conductors including distinguished musicians such as Marin Alsop, James Conlon, Dennis Russell Davies, Charles Dutoit, JoAnn Falletta, Jahja Ling, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, and Hugh Wolff. Outstanding conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Roger Norrington, André Previn, the late Sir George Solti, and the late Leonard Bernstein have lead orchestral readings with the students in the past.

Following is a list of Juilliard's various orchestral ensemble. Click on the name to find out more.

Juilliard Orchestra
New Juilliard Ensemble
Conductors' Orchestra