Historical Performance

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Faculty

Historical Performance offers a Master of Music  degree and a two-year Graduate Diploma . This performance-based program is an intensive course of study in both history and performance, offering students the opportunity to perform at the highest level of excellence as they develop a thorough understanding of the musical and cultural contexts of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Juilliard’s Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree program, known as the C.V. Starr Doctoral Program, also offers a Doctor of Musical Arts in Historical Performance. The DMA program at Juilliard follows a broad-based curriculum spanning the full spectrum of Western classical music and is not specifically oriented towards historical performance. Specialization is mainly through major instrument study and independent research. Participation in activities of the Historical Performance department is contingent upon schedule and availability.

Performance opportunities include student-led chamber music groups, solo recitals, required participation in the concerts and national and international tours of the departmental orchestra Juilliard415, and frequent collaborations with the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts . Students also work closely with distinguished visiting artists in masterclasses and coachings in chamber and solo repertoire. Other performance opportunities include occasional concerts by the viola da gamba and recorder consorts, and Renaissance loud band.

The studio faculty of the program are all leading performers who maintain active performing careers outside the school. In addition to regular private lessons, the principal departmental studies include required classes in historical theory, figured bass for harpsichord majors, improvisation, the history of early music, and a series of seminars that cover a wide range of historical, analytical, theoretical, and contextual issues related to historically informed performance.

Individual students may also be required to enroll in ear training, music history, and/or music theory classes based on diagnostic exams.

NOTE: Important statistics and disclosure information on all non-degree diploma programs are available on the Juilliard website.

Listen to Juilliard Historical Performance in concert on our YouTube channel.

Secondary Period-Instrument Lessons

Opportunities for individual private lessons on a period instrument are available on request for a limited number of modern instrument majors. Eligible instruments include Baroque violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, horn, and harpsichord. Historical Performance wind players may request lessons in recorder. Historical Performance string players may request lessons in viola da gamba. Enrollment is based on consultation with the appropriate member of the Historical Performance studio faculty and requires permission of the student’s major teacher. Students will receive between four and six hours of instruction per semester. With the exception of harpsichordists, participating students will be loaned an instrument from Juilliard’s collection. Period instrument lessons are offered by application on a limited basis and are free of charge.

Courses

• BNHMU 000 — Baroque Bassoon
• DBHMU 000 — Baroque Double Bass
• FLHMU 000 — Baroque Flute
• HSHMU 000 — Harpsichord
• OBHMU 000 — Baroque Oboe
• PIHMU 000 — Plucked Instruments
• VAHMU 000 — Baroque Viola
• VCHMU 000 — Baroque Cello
• VGHMU 000 — Viola da Gamba
• VNHMU 000 — Baroque Violin

• CMENS B531-2 — Historical Performance Chamber Music
• PFENS B611-2 — Juilliard415

• HIMUS P611-2 — Historical Performance Symposium
• HIMUS 600 — Historical Performance Studio Class
• HIMUS 611-2 — History and Literature of 17th- and 18th- Century Music
• HIMUS 623 — Performance Practice Seminar
• HIMUS 624 — History of Early Music

• HIMUS 644 — Historical Improvisation
• KSMUS B635-6 — Continuo Skills in Context

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