Juilliard hosts two master classes and a residency by renowned period performance masters Jordi Savall and William Christie with members of Les Arts Florissants

 The Juilliard School presents its first public master class with viol player and conductor Jordi Savall on Tuesday, February 24 at 4 PM in Juilliard's Morse Hall, and hosts a second residency with early music expert William Christie and members of his ensemble Les Arts Florissants from Monday, March 23 through Friday, March 27, 2009, culminating in a master class open to the general public on Friday, March 27 at 8 PM in Juilliard’s Paul Hall. Nineteen to twenty-one Juilliard musicians will be selected by Mr. Christie and members of Les Arts Florissants through auditions, to participate in the coming residency that focuses on the music of Handel. Jordi Savall’s master class focuses on Baroque solo and chamber music, mostly featuring music for cello; students will be selected by Juilliard’s studio and chamber music faculty. These master classes and residencies help pave the way for the start of Juilliard’s new graduate-level Historical Performance program, beginning in the fall of 2009, with auditions taking place in Paris and New York City this January and March, respectively. (Application deadline is December 1, 2008; please see corresponding press release for specific information.)  Such master classes and residencies will be a continuing component of the program. Both Mr. Christie and Mr. Savall have agreed to be regular guest teachers at Juilliard.  The William Christie/Les Arts Florissants residency is funded in part by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

A very limited number of free tickets are available to the public two weeks prior to each master class at the Juilliard Box Office, relocated to its permanent home in the newly-renovated lobby of the School at 155 West 65th Street by the end of September 2008. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM – 6 PM. For more information on these events, call the Juilliard Box Office at (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu. 
           
Juilliard will welcome the first class of approximately 12 to 14 students into its Historical Performance program in the fall of 2009. A second class enrollment of equal size in Fall 2010 brings the program to its enrollment goal of 24 – 28 students in Baroque violin, Baroque viola, Baroque cello, Baroque double bass/violone, Baroque flute, Baroque oboe, Baroque bassoon, and harpsichord.  Focusing on performance practice of music composed from 1600 to the early-19th century, the program is open to those with period performance experience as well as those with traditional experience who are interested in the specialty. Violinist Monica Huggett, known worldwide as an expert in the field and a highly respected performer, is Artistic Director, leading a new Historical Performance faculty including early music experts Cynthia Roberts (violin and viola); Phoebe Carrai (cello); Robert Nairn (double bass/violone); Sandra Miller (flute); Gonzalo Xavier Ruiz (oboe); Dominic Teresi (bassoon); Kenneth Weiss (harpsichord) and violinist Robert Mealy (chamber music coach).

About Jordi Savall:
Jordi Savall was educated at the Barcelona Conservatory of Music (1959-65), and immediately afterwards, he began training in ancient music, collaborating with Ars Musicae and studying at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland (1968-70). In 1974, with his wife, the soprano Montserrat Figueras, and other musicians from different countries, he created Hespèrion XX. He and the ensemble rapidly came to the forefront of the interpretation of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music, and created a new style of interpretation, characterized by great musical vitality, and at the same time, maximum historical fidelity. After living in Switzerland for twenty years, he returned to Barcelona to found La Capella Reial de Catalunya, an ensemble dedicated to the interpretation of vocal music prior to the year 1800. Finally, in 1989, he created the Baroque and classic orchestra, Le Concert des Nations. Unanimously recognized as one of the main present-day interpreters of the bass viol, during these last twenty years, Mr. Savall maintained an intense schedule as concert performer and director, making more than 170 recordings and winning numerous distinctions, such as the Grand Prix de L’Académie du Disque Lyrique 1990. In 1988, he was designated Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. In 1990, the Generalitat of Catalunya awarded him the Creu de Saint Jordi. Since 1973, he has been a teacher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. His work in teaching, research, and as a concert performer makes him one of the main figures in the process of revaluation of historical music which is happening in Europe these days.

About William Christie:
The pioneering work of William Christie, harpsichordist, conductor, musicologist and teacher, has led to a renewed appreciation of Baroque music in France, notably of 17th- and 18th-century French repertoire, which he has introduced to a wide audience. Born in Buffalo (New York State), William Christie studied at Harvard and Yale Universities, and has lived in France since 1971. He acquired French nationality in 1995. The major turning point in his career came in 1979 when he founded Les Arts Florissants. Major public recognition came in 1987 with the production of Atys by Lully at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.

William Christie has an increasingly busy career as an opera conductor and his collaborations with renowned theater and opera directors are always significant events in the musical calendar. Mr. Christie is committed equally to the training and professional development of young artists, and he has nurtured several generations of singers and instrumentalists during the last twenty-five years. Between 1982 and 1995, Mr. Christie was a Professor at the Paris Conservatoire, with responsibility for the early music class. He created an academy for young singers in Caen, called Le Jardin des Voix, whose first three sessions, in 2002, 2005 and 2007, generated a huge amount of interest in France and elsewhere in Europe as well as in the United States.

About Les Arts Florissants:
The vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Arts Florissants is one of the most renowned and respected early music groups in Europe and around the world. Dedicated to the performance of Baroque music on original instruments, the ensemble was founded in 1979 by William Christie, and takes its name from a short opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Les Arts Florissants largely have been responsible for the resurgence of interest in France in 17th-century French repertoire as well as in European music of the 17th and 18th centuries more generally. This was repertoire which for the most part had been neglected, but which is now widely performed and admired.

Since the acclaimed production of Atys by Lully, it has been in the field of opera where Les Arts Florissants have found most success. Notable productions include works by Rameau (Les Indes galantes, Hippolyte et Aricie, Les Boréades, Les Paladins), Charpentier (Médée), Handel (Orlando, Acis and Galatea, Semele, Alcina, Hercules), Purcell, Mozart and Monteverdi. For fifteen years, Les Arts Florissants have been artists in residence at the Théâtre de Caen. The ensemble also tours widely within France, and is a frequent ambassador for French culture abroad, appearing regularly at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center in New York, the Barbican Centre in London and the Vienna Festival.