Since its founding in 2009, Juilliard415, the school’s principal period-instrument ensemble, has made significant contributions to musical life in New York and beyond, bringing major figures in the field of early music to lead performances of both rare and canonical works of the 17th and 18th centuries. The many distinguished guests who have led Juilliard415 include Harry Bicket, William Christie, Monica Huggett, Ton Koopman, Nicholas McGegan, Rachel Podger, Jordi Savall, and Masaaki Suzuki.
Juilliard415 tours extensively in the USA and abroad, having performed on five continents with notable appearances at the Boston Early Music Festival, Bachfest Leipzig, and Utrecht Early Music Festival (where Juilliard was the first-ever conservatory in residence), and on a 10-concert tour of New Zealand. With its frequent musical collaborator, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, the ensemble has played throughout Italy, Japan, Southeast Asia, the UK, and India. Juilliard415, which takes its name from the pitch commonly associated with the performance of Baroque music, A=415, has performed major oratorios and fully staged productions: George Frideric Handel’s Agrippina and Radamisto; J.S. Bach's Matthew Passion (BWV 244) and John Passion (BWV 245); Cavalli’s La Calisto; and performances in the USA and Holland of J.S. Bach's Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) conducted by Ton Koopman. The ensemble’s most recent international appearances were in Bolivia, in a tour sponsored by the U.S. Department of State that marked the ensemble’s South America debut.
The 2017-2018 season was notable for the Juilliard debuts of the rising conductor Jonathan Cohen and the Belgian vocal ensemble Vox Luminis, a side-by-side collaboration with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, as well as return visits by Rachel Podger, William Christie, an all-J.S. Bach concert with Masaaki Suzuki, and the rare opportunity to see a fully staged production of Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie. 2018-2019 season's international schedule includes performances in Canada, London, Versailles, and throughout Scandinavia. In New York, Juilliard415 welcomed Paul Agnew and Alfredo Bernardini for their Juilliard debuts. |