Suzanne Farrell, Nicholas Hytner, Murray Perahia, Dianne Reeves and Peter Sellars to Receive Honorary Doctorates from Juilliard, 5/22

The Juilliard School will confer honorary doctorates on five remarkable artists during its 110th Commencement Ceremony on Friday, May 22, 2015 at 11 a.m. in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center (Broadway at 65th Street, New York City). Suzanne Farrell, Nicholas Hytner (pictured, left), Murray Perahia, Dianne Reeves, and Peter Sellars will be honored at Juilliard's May 2015 Commencement Ceremony.

Nicholas Hytner, who has been director of the National Theatre since 2003 and will step down in March 2015, will give Juilliard's Commencement Address. Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi will read special citations and present degrees to all five honorees who will be garbed in Juilliard's traditional academic robes and velvet caps, and who will receive their ceremonial doctoral hoods onstage.

The ceremony will be live-streamed at live.juilliard.edu.

Receiving Juilliard's Honorary Doctor of Music:

American pianist Murray Perahia has been performing on the concert stage for more than 40 years. He has become one of the most sought-after and cherished pianists of our time, performing in all of the major international music centers and with every leading orchestra. He is the principal guest conductor of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, with whom he has toured as conductor and pianist throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and South East Asia. Mr. Perahia has a wide and varied discography. Sony Classical has issued a box set edition of all his recordings, including several DVDs entitled, The First 40 Years. He is the recipient of two Grammy awards for his recordings of Chopin's complete Études and Bach's English Suites Nos. 1, 3, and 6 and numerous Grammy nominations. Recently, Mr. Perahia embarked on an ambitious project to edit the complete Beethoven Sonatas for the Henle Urtext Edition. He also produced the highly acclaimed Sony CD release, Alfred Cortot: The Master Classes. Mr. Perahia is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, and he holds honorary doctorates from Leeds University and Duke University, In 2004, he was awarded an honorary KBE by Her Majesty The Queen, in recognition of his outstanding service to music.

Dianne Reeves is one of the pre-eminent jazz vocalists in the world. As a result of her breathtaking virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Ms. Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance for three consecutive recordings - a Grammy first in any vocal category. Ms. Reeves has recorded and performed with Juilliard alumnus Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She also has recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Featured in George Clooney's six-time Academy Award nominated Good Night, and Good Luck, Ms. Reeves won her fourth Best Jazz Vocal Grammy for the film's soundtrack. She recently won a fifth Grammy for her latest recording, Beautiful Life.

Opera, theater, and festival director Peter Sellars is one of the most innovative powerful forces in the performing arts in America and abroad. A visionary artist, Mr. Sellars is known for groundbreaking interpretations of classic works. Whether it is Mozart, Handel, Shakespeare, Sophocles, or the 16th-century Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu, Peter Sellars strikes a universal chord with audiences, engaging and illuminating contemporary social and political issues. He has been a driving force in the creation of many new works with longtime collaborator, composer John Adams, including Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño, Doctor Atomic, and A Flowering Tree. A staging of their work, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, had performances in the United States and Europe in 2013. Recent projects have included a critically acclaimed concert staging of Johann Sebastian Bach's Saint Matthew Passion with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performed in Salzburg, Berlin, and New York. Mr. Sellars is a professor in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA and resident curator of the Telluride Film Festival. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Receiving Juilliard's Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts:

Suzanne Farrell, one of George Balanchine's most celebrated muses, remains a legendary figure in the ballet world. In addition to serving as artistic director of her own company, she is also a repetiteur for The George Balanchine Trust, the independent organization founded after the choreographer's death by the heirs to his ballets to oversee their worldwide licensing and production. Since 1988 she has staged Balanchine's works for such companies as the Berlin Opera Ballet, the Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, as well as American companies, including those in Boston, Miami, Seattle, Cincinnati, Fort Worth, and New York. Ms. Farrell joined Balanchine's New York City Ballet in the fall of 1961 after a year as a Ford Foundation scholarship student at the School of American Ballet. By the time she retired from the stage in 1989, she had achieved a career that is without precedent or parallel in the history of ballet. During her 28 years on the stage, Suzanne Farrell danced a repertory of more than 100 ballets, nearly a third of which were composed expressly for her by Balanchine and other choreographers, including Jerome Robbins and Maurice Béjart. Ms. Farrell is also active in a variety of cultural and philanthropic organizations, such as the New York State Council on the Arts, the Arthritis Foundation, the Professional Children's School, and the Princess Grace Foundation.

Nicholas Hytner has been director of the National Theatre since 2003 and will leave in March 2015. His work includes productions at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter, Leeds Playhouse, and Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, where he was associate director. For the Royal Shakespeare Company, his work includes: Measure for Measure, The Tempest, and King Lear. His work in opera includes productions for The Royal Opera House, Kent Opera, ENO, Glyndebourne, Paris Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Geneva Opera, and the Bavarian States Opera, and Munich. His films include: The Lady in the Van, The Madness of King George, The Crucible, The Object of My Affection, and The History Boys. He has staged other works in London, including Miss Saigon, The Importance of Being Earnest, Cressida, The Lady in the Van, and Orpheus Descending; in New York, Carousel, Twelfth Night, and Sweet Smell of Success.

About The Juilliard School - The Juilliard School, founded in 1905, is a world leader in performing arts education. Its alumni are among the most celebrated recitalists, orchestral and operatic musicians, administrators, and teachers. In 1951, its Dance Division was established, combining contemporary and ballet technique. Its accomplished alumni also include many of today's celebrated choreographers. Juilliard became part of Lincoln Center in 1968, and added a four-year drama program. Jazz performance was initiated in 2001 and Historical Performance in 2009. Most recently, Juilliard expanded its acting education to include a master's degree program whose first class entered in fall 2012. In 2009, Juilliard inaugurated its partnership with the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program; and also collaborates with Carnegie Hall, founding The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, and Ensemble ACJW; Signature Theatre - for Juilliard Drama's 'Professional Studio'; and the New York Philharmonic, whose music director Alan Gilbert is Juilliard's director of conducting and orchestral studies; Juilliard alumnus Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, became director of Juilliard Jazz on July 1, 2014. Currently more than 800 artists from 44 states and 42 foreign countries attend Juilliard.

Photo Credit: Charlotte MacMillan