Juilliard Dedicates Its New Judith Harris and Tony Woolfson Orchestral Studio on Monday, October 12, 2009

Orchestral Studio, Named for Canadian Benefactors Judith Harris and Tony Woolfson, Features Advanced Acoustical Engineering by JaffeHolden

Juilliard dedicates its new Judith Harris and Tony Woolfson Orchestral Studio on Monday, October 12 at 6:30 PM. The Studio, which was built in reclaimed space within the existing Juilliard classroom and performance building, is designed by the architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with FX Fowle. JaffeHolden is the project acoustician. The flexible Harris/Woolfson Orchestral Studio will be used for Juilliard Orchestra rehearsals. It is one of the new spaces that Juilliard recently opened after a $200 million renovation that added 38,000 square feet of expansion space to a 58,000 square feet that had been renovated internally.

Located on the 5^th floor of Juilliard, the Judith Harris and Tony Woolfson Orchestral Studio provides 3,500 square feet of open space with an impressive 29-foot ceiling. The Studio also includes advanced acoustical engineering with moveable panels along the top half of the room's periphery and fixed acoustical panels along the bottom half to allow for varying levels of sound absorption and diffusion. Cove lighting accents the perimeter of the room, with more direct light used functionally throughout. The Harris/Woolfson Orchestral Studio was created in space reclaimed from an existing rooftop courtyard; the hall's sound has been isolated by massive structures modeled into a floating box-in-box design.

The Judith Harris and Tony Woolfson Orchestral Studio is named in honor of the couple's significant gift to the Juilliard Second Century Fund. The School is grateful for their generous support and specific encouragement of the arts and arts education. The London, Ontario-based couple shares a great personal passion for music, reflected by an inscription on the studio wall which reads: "In gratitude for a wondrous life in music, Judith Harris with Tony Woolfson."

Ms. Harris is a Jungian analyst and maintains a private practice in London, Ontario. As a child, she attended Interlochen Academy and participated in piano master classes with Juilliard faculty member Adele Marcus. Although not a Juilliard student, Ms. Harris's musical training was enormously influenced by Ms. Marcus. In addition to the piano, Ms. Harris studied bassoon and dance.

Ms. Harris's husband, Tony Woolfson, is a psychologist and has also taught political science, social science, and religion at York University. He spent eight years in Zurich where his wife trained as an analyst and where he studied and taught at the C.G. Jung Institute. Mr. Woolfson writes and teaches in the area of analytical psychology and the psychology of religion and spirituality.

Juilliard's $200 million expansion and renovation, begun in 2006, is drawing to a close, corresponding to the start of the 2009-2010 academic year and the return of its 800 + college-age students of dance, drama, and music, and its younger music students in the Pre-College and Music Advancement programs who meet on Saturdays - all of whom will be able to take advantage of the building's new facilities. Juilliard recently renamed the entirety of its multi-functional and busy headquarter, the Irene Diamond Building, and dedicated two other new venues - the Rosemary and Meredith Willson Theater and the Glorya Kaufman Dance Studio. A final major new area for scholars and researchers - The Juilliard Manuscript Collection - with state-of-the-art housing for the School's priceless collection of manuscripts and composers' proofs, is due to be dedicated in November.