Juilliard Students Re-Define the Classical Music Experience

For Immediate Release: 

New York, NY; March 21st, 2018

--4th year Juilliard student, Thomas West (baritone), will bring 23 Juilliard students together for a special collaborative recital on April 6th at The Juilliard School in New York City

Contact: Thomas West

             tlw@juilliard.edu 

On Friday, April 6th, at 8 PM in Juilliard's Paul Hall, 4th year Juilliard student Thomas West (baritone) will present a free recital re-imagining the classical music recital experience. 23 colleagues will join him on stage throughout the evening including four dancers, and one actress. 

The recital will be structured in four parts with each part examining a different year of West's time at Juilliard. Opening the performance will be the rarely performed Le Bal Masqué by Francis Poulenc. This eclectic chamber piece for baritone, piano, violin, cello, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, trumpet and percussion will be re-imagined by award-winning choreographer Joe Barros (Broadway: Gigi; Off-Broadway: Pretty to the bone; Bastard Jones), and a collective of Juilliard dancers. Year 2 will bring a world premiere on the topic of exploration by Tennessee-based composer Tim Hinck, entitled Terraform III: 4:34 p.m. Buehler's Market for baritone, piano, acoustic guitar, harp, cello and percussion. Year 3 will focus on introspection through the lens of Gustav Mahler's acclaimed Rückert Lieder with piano, while Year 4 will look toward future possibilities through a world premiere by 4th year Juilliard composer Matthew Liu entitled The Artists's Toolbox, scored for a baritone, an actor, four dancers, piano, violin, cello, double bass, flute, and harp. 

"I believe that stories are best told by fusing multiple art forms. It is utterly terrifying to try to create something that has never before existed, but I believe it really teaches you to ask questions, to make mistakes, and to take risks--resulting in a product that seems more human," said West. 

Thomas West is expected to graduate from the Juilliard School in May 2018 under the tutelage of Marlena Malas. He is a former Presidential Scholar in the Arts, one of the creators behind Juilliard's new Opera-Composer Collaborative Project, and the Founder and CEO of Collaborative Arts Ensemble, an interdisciplinary collective of world-class musicians, dancers and actors that create concert programs to promote social understanding in the world. This summer, West will be a baritone fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA.