Michael Tilson Thomas—co-founder and artistic director of the New World Symphony, music director laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, and conductor laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra—will give the commencement address at the Juilliard School ceremony on May 20. The event will be held in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park in New York City and will also be live-streamed at Juilliard’s website. Juilliard President Damian Woetzel will confer honorary degrees on Tilson Thomas as well as to dancer, teacher, and stager Masazumi Chaya; bass-baritone and Juilliard alumnus Simon Estes; playwright Suzan-Lori Parks; and Ahmad Sarmast, founder and director of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music. Juilliard’s new branch campus in Tianjin, China hosted its first-ever commencement on May 20 for the inaugural class of 34 Masters of Music students; the address was given by Joseph W. Polisi, chief China officer and Juilliard’s president emeritus. Juilliard’s Preparatory Division will hold a joint commencement for the Pre-College and the Music Advancement Program on May 21 in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Weston Sprott, dean and director of the Preparatory Division, and Anthony McGill, MAP artistic director, will present certificates of completion to graduates. Wynton Marsalis (’81, trumpet), director of Juilliard Jazz, will deliver that commencement address.
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