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Press Releases
Baroque Violinist and Early Music Specialist Robert Mealy to Become Director of Juilliard Historical Performance
Baroque violinist Robert Mealy, a member of Juilliard’s
Historical Performance faculty since the program’s inception in
2008, has been named Director of the program starting in
September of the 2012-13 season. He takes on this expanded
role at Juilliard while continuing as the School’s chamber
ensemble coach and teacher of core studies in Historical
Performance. In addition to day-to-day oversight of the
curriculum and performance activities, Mr. Mealy will continue
to work with students within the department and throughout
Juilliard. He will be stepping down from his position as full-
time faculty member of Yale University, but will continue to
coach students at the Yale School of Music.
Violinist Monica Huggett assumes the newly-created position of Artist-in-Residence and Artistic Advisor, continuing her central role in teaching violin and leading numerous concerts and projects with Juilliard415 and Juilliard Baroque during the academic year. In addition to her active roles at Juilliard, she is Artistic Director of the Portland (Oregon) Baroque Orchestra and the Irish Baroque Orchestra. She was named Juilliard Historical Performance’s Artistic Director in 2008.
Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi commented on the appointment of the School’s newest program director by saying, “It is with great enthusiasm that we announce Robert Mealy’s new position as Director of Juilliard’s Historical Performance program. Robert’s artistry and vision have been present in our program since its inception, and I am very pleased that he will now have increased involvement in shaping the future direction of this important artistic and educational initiative.”
Although it is one of the world’s newest period-performance programs, Juilliard Historical Performance quickly has garnered a reputation for educational and performance excellence, and has become a hub for early music specialists from the U.S. and abroad to teach, participate in residencies and workshops, and perform. William Christie, who was instrumental in founding the program, and Jordi Savall, continue their annual residencies as visiting artists. Other recent guests have included Ton Koopman, Nicholas McGegan, Harry Bicket, Dame Emma Kirkby, Christopher Hogwood, and Masaaki Suzuki. Juilliard Historical Performance has collaborated and toured with Yale’s Schola Cantorum and Baroque Ensemble, and presented New York City performances with organizations such as Music Before 1800 and Salon Sanctuary Concerts. Next year, Juilliard Historical Performance offers a free lunchtime series at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
Robert Mealy is one of America's leading historical string players. He has been praised for his “imagination, taste, subtlety, and daring” by the Boston Globe; the New Yorker called him “New York’s world-class early music violinist.” He has recorded and toured a wide variety of repertoire with many distinguished ensembles both here and in Europe, including Sequentia, Tragicomedia, Les Arts Florissants, and Tafelmusik; as a soloist and chamber musician, he has appeared at music festivals from Berkeley to Belgrade and from Melbourne to Bergen. A frequent leader and soloist in New York, Mr. Mealy is concertmaster at Trinity Wall Street, as they embark on a complete series of Bach cantata performances. Since 2004, he has led the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, making three Grammy-nominated recordings with them and many festival concerts, including a special appearance at Versailles. He has also led the Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble in performances in New York, New Haven, and Moscow, and accompanied Renée Fleming on the David Letterman Show. A devoted chamber musician, he directs the seventeenth-century ensemble Quicksilver, and is a member of the King’s Noyse and the Medieval quartet Fortune’s Wheel. Since 2009, Mr. Mealy has been a professor at Yale, where he directs the postgraduate Yale Baroque Ensemble. Prior to teaching at Yale, he founded and directed the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra for a decade. He joined Juilliard’s Historical Performance program when it first began, as director of core studies and chamber music, and becomes director of the full program in Fall of 2012. In 2004, he received EMA’s Binkley Award for outstanding teaching and scholarship. He has recorded more than eighty CDs on most major labels.
Monica Huggett was born in London, where she began playing violin at age six, and at age sixteen entered the Royal Academy of Music as a student of Manoug Parkian. From the age of seventeen, Ms. Huggett made a living solely as a violinist and artistic administrator, beginning as a freelance violinist and becoming director of both the Portland (Oregon) and Irish Baroque orchestras before coming to Juilliard. She was a co-founder with Ton Koopman, of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and founder of her own London-based ensemble Sonnerie. Ms. Huggett has performed with numerous outstanding early music ensembles and conductors throughout Europe and the North America, including Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, Tafelmusik Toronto, the Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco, and simply too many others to mention. Ms. Huggett’s remarkable knowledge and understanding of the musical and social history of the Baroque, along with a unique interpretive skill make her an outstanding resource for students of period performance. Her recordings have won numerous prizes and her most recent CD, Flights of Fantasy, was named New Yorker magazine’s ‘2010 CD of the Year’ by critic Alex Ross.
Established in 2009, Juilliard Historical Performance is a two- year master of music degree and graduate diploma program at Juilliard, offering comprehensive study focusing on music from the 17th and 18th centuries. Joint projects and collaborations with the School’s Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts and with modern instrument musicians from throughout the School are an integral part of the program. Along with weekly lessons and frequent performances, the curriculum covers a broad range of issues related directly to performance, including style and interpretation, historical and cultural contexts, analytical methods and treatises, historical dance, continuo improvisation/figured bass reading, and ornamentation. Newly added to the regular curriculum are studies in plucked instruments and viola da gamba. Secondary lessons also are offered in flute, oboe, violin, viola da gamba, trumpet, and horn. The 2012-13 concert season includes Robert Mealy’s debut leading Juilliard415 in a program featuring works by Rameau, the group’s debut at the Virginia Arts Festival, and a concert tour of Japan and Singapore with the Yale Schola Cantorum and conductor Masaaki Suzuki. The complete season of Juilliard Historical Performance events will be released soon, and available at www.events.juilliard.edu.
Juilliard Historical Performance Faculty
Monica Huggett, Artist-in-Residence and Artistic Advisor
Robert Mealy, Director
Monica Huggett and Cynthia Roberts, Violin Sarah Cunningham, Viola da Gamba Phoebe Carrai, Cello Robert Nairn, Double Bass Sandra Miller, Flute Gonzalo Ruiz, Oboe Dominic Teresi, Bassoon Patrick O’Brien, Plucked Instruments Kenneth Weiss, Harpsichord Robert Mealy, Chamber Music, Core Studies, Violin/Viola www.juilliard.edu/historicalperformance
Violinist Monica Huggett assumes the newly-created position of Artist-in-Residence and Artistic Advisor, continuing her central role in teaching violin and leading numerous concerts and projects with Juilliard415 and Juilliard Baroque during the academic year. In addition to her active roles at Juilliard, she is Artistic Director of the Portland (Oregon) Baroque Orchestra and the Irish Baroque Orchestra. She was named Juilliard Historical Performance’s Artistic Director in 2008.
Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi commented on the appointment of the School’s newest program director by saying, “It is with great enthusiasm that we announce Robert Mealy’s new position as Director of Juilliard’s Historical Performance program. Robert’s artistry and vision have been present in our program since its inception, and I am very pleased that he will now have increased involvement in shaping the future direction of this important artistic and educational initiative.”
Although it is one of the world’s newest period-performance programs, Juilliard Historical Performance quickly has garnered a reputation for educational and performance excellence, and has become a hub for early music specialists from the U.S. and abroad to teach, participate in residencies and workshops, and perform. William Christie, who was instrumental in founding the program, and Jordi Savall, continue their annual residencies as visiting artists. Other recent guests have included Ton Koopman, Nicholas McGegan, Harry Bicket, Dame Emma Kirkby, Christopher Hogwood, and Masaaki Suzuki. Juilliard Historical Performance has collaborated and toured with Yale’s Schola Cantorum and Baroque Ensemble, and presented New York City performances with organizations such as Music Before 1800 and Salon Sanctuary Concerts. Next year, Juilliard Historical Performance offers a free lunchtime series at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
Robert Mealy is one of America's leading historical string players. He has been praised for his “imagination, taste, subtlety, and daring” by the Boston Globe; the New Yorker called him “New York’s world-class early music violinist.” He has recorded and toured a wide variety of repertoire with many distinguished ensembles both here and in Europe, including Sequentia, Tragicomedia, Les Arts Florissants, and Tafelmusik; as a soloist and chamber musician, he has appeared at music festivals from Berkeley to Belgrade and from Melbourne to Bergen. A frequent leader and soloist in New York, Mr. Mealy is concertmaster at Trinity Wall Street, as they embark on a complete series of Bach cantata performances. Since 2004, he has led the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, making three Grammy-nominated recordings with them and many festival concerts, including a special appearance at Versailles. He has also led the Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble in performances in New York, New Haven, and Moscow, and accompanied Renée Fleming on the David Letterman Show. A devoted chamber musician, he directs the seventeenth-century ensemble Quicksilver, and is a member of the King’s Noyse and the Medieval quartet Fortune’s Wheel. Since 2009, Mr. Mealy has been a professor at Yale, where he directs the postgraduate Yale Baroque Ensemble. Prior to teaching at Yale, he founded and directed the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra for a decade. He joined Juilliard’s Historical Performance program when it first began, as director of core studies and chamber music, and becomes director of the full program in Fall of 2012. In 2004, he received EMA’s Binkley Award for outstanding teaching and scholarship. He has recorded more than eighty CDs on most major labels.
Monica Huggett was born in London, where she began playing violin at age six, and at age sixteen entered the Royal Academy of Music as a student of Manoug Parkian. From the age of seventeen, Ms. Huggett made a living solely as a violinist and artistic administrator, beginning as a freelance violinist and becoming director of both the Portland (Oregon) and Irish Baroque orchestras before coming to Juilliard. She was a co-founder with Ton Koopman, of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and founder of her own London-based ensemble Sonnerie. Ms. Huggett has performed with numerous outstanding early music ensembles and conductors throughout Europe and the North America, including Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, Tafelmusik Toronto, the Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco, and simply too many others to mention. Ms. Huggett’s remarkable knowledge and understanding of the musical and social history of the Baroque, along with a unique interpretive skill make her an outstanding resource for students of period performance. Her recordings have won numerous prizes and her most recent CD, Flights of Fantasy, was named New Yorker magazine’s ‘2010 CD of the Year’ by critic Alex Ross.
Established in 2009, Juilliard Historical Performance is a two- year master of music degree and graduate diploma program at Juilliard, offering comprehensive study focusing on music from the 17th and 18th centuries. Joint projects and collaborations with the School’s Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts and with modern instrument musicians from throughout the School are an integral part of the program. Along with weekly lessons and frequent performances, the curriculum covers a broad range of issues related directly to performance, including style and interpretation, historical and cultural contexts, analytical methods and treatises, historical dance, continuo improvisation/figured bass reading, and ornamentation. Newly added to the regular curriculum are studies in plucked instruments and viola da gamba. Secondary lessons also are offered in flute, oboe, violin, viola da gamba, trumpet, and horn. The 2012-13 concert season includes Robert Mealy’s debut leading Juilliard415 in a program featuring works by Rameau, the group’s debut at the Virginia Arts Festival, and a concert tour of Japan and Singapore with the Yale Schola Cantorum and conductor Masaaki Suzuki. The complete season of Juilliard Historical Performance events will be released soon, and available at www.events.juilliard.edu.
Juilliard Historical Performance Faculty
Monica Huggett, Artist-in-Residence and Artistic Advisor
Robert Mealy, Director
Monica Huggett and Cynthia Roberts, Violin Sarah Cunningham, Viola da Gamba Phoebe Carrai, Cello Robert Nairn, Double Bass Sandra Miller, Flute Gonzalo Ruiz, Oboe Dominic Teresi, Bassoon Patrick O’Brien, Plucked Instruments Kenneth Weiss, Harpsichord Robert Mealy, Chamber Music, Core Studies, Violin/Viola www.juilliard.edu/historicalperformance
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