Juilliard Historical Performance, the school’s graduate-level, full-tuition scholarship program for early music, enters its eighth performance season with a full schedule of concerts, tours, residencies, and master classes anchored by performances from its primary period-instrument ensemble, Juilliard415, and a roster of distinguished guests artists.
The new season includes collaborations with Yale and the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague as well as tours to Holland, India, and New Zealand. 
Guest artists in the 2016-17 season include Kristian Bezuidenhout, William Christie, Laurence Cummings, David Hill, Ton Koopman,Rachel Podger, and Masaaki Suzuki. The academic year will include residencies and master classes byRichard Egarr, Monica Huggett, Béatrice Martin, Rachel Podger, and the London Haydn Quartet.
The new season opens with Masaaki Suzuki conducting Juilliard415 and Yale Schola Cantorum with concertmaster Robert Mealy in a program entitled “Mourning in Dresden,” with music by Hasse, Bach, and Fasch on Saturday, October 8, 2016, in New Haven, Conn., and on Sunday, October 9, 2016, in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Later in the season, Suzuki and Juilliard415 tour two programs of Bach and Telemann to New Zealand from May 22 to June 12, 2017, with Cynthia Roberts as concertmaster.
Juilliard welcomes back violinist Rachel Podger on Sunday, October 16, 2016. She will lead Juilliard415 in “A più stromenti: The Italian Concerto” with works by Veracini, Vivaldi, Valentini, and Corelli, as part of the Music Before 1800 series at Corpus Christi Church, 529 West 121st Street, New York City.
Making his annual Juilliard visit, guest artist William Christie conducts a French Baroque program on Wednesday, November 9, 2016, in Alice Tully Hall. Paul Agnew, joint musical director of Les Arts Florissants, will also conduct. The program features suites by Rameau from Dardanus and Pygmalion with singers from Juilliard’s Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts.
Ton Koopman conducts Juilliard415 and musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague in J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor on Friday, November 18, 2016, co-presented by the Boston Early Music Festival, at St. Paul’s Church in Cambridge, Mass.; on Saturday, November 19, the program will be repeated in Alice Tully, and it will tour in Holland from December 3 to 12, 2016.
Keyboardist Kristian Bezuidenhout leads Juilliard415 in works by Mozart and Haydn on Monday, January 23, 2017, in Alice Tully Hall.
Juilliard415 and Juilliard singers will present both staged and concert versions of Handel’s rarely performed opera, Agrippina. Making his first appearance at Juilliard, Laurence Cummings conducts Juilliard415 and Juilliard singers in the concert version on Saturday, February 11, 2017, in Alice Tully Hall with fully staged performances, directed by Louisa Proske and conducted by Juilliard alumnus Jeffrey Grossman, on Saturday, February 18; Monday, February 20; and Wednesday, February 22, 2017, in Juilliard’s Rosemary and Meredith Willson Theater. Tickets are limited for the Willson Theater performances. The opera is presented as part of Carnegie Hall’s festival, La Serenissima: Music and Arts From the Venetian Republic.
David Hill conducts Juilliard415 and Yale Schola Cantorum in J.S. Bach’s Magnificat and a newly commissioned work by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail on Thursday, March 2, 2017, in Alice Tully Hall and Friday, March 3, 2017, in New Haven. They tour India March 9 to 21, 2017.
Monica Huggett, artist in residence in Juilliard’s Historical Performance program, leads Juilliard415 in works by Haydn and Luigi Tomasini on Thursday, April 20, 2017, in Alice Tully Hall.
Free Lunchtime Concerts at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – Tuesdays at Twelve
Juilliard Historical Performance continues its free lunchtime concert series, Tuesdays at Twelve, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (65th Street and Central Park West, N.Y.C.). The hourlong concerts take place on October 25, December 20, February 21, and April 25, all on Tuesdays at noon, and feature chamber music performed on period instruments in the 110-year-old church, the home of the celebrated Bach Vespers series. These concerts are free, and no tickets are required. The series is an extension of Juilliard’s long-running, free lunchtime performance series that takes place during the school year on Wednesdays in Alice Tully Hall.
Residencies and Master Classes
Residencies are an important part of the Juilliard Historical Performance program and give Juilliard musicians a chance to work closely with a who’s who list of early music specialists. Among the distinguished artists who will have residencies or give master classes during the 2016-17 season are Richard Egarr, Monica Huggett, Rachel Podger, Béatrice Martin, and London Haydn Quartet.
Juilliard’s full-scholarship Historical Performance program was established and endowed in 2009 by the generous support of Bruce and Suzie Kovner.
