Juilliard School officials visit SHCM, renew accord

A delegation from the Juilliard School in New York City visited the Shanghai Conservatory of Music on January 14, 2016, led by the school president Joseph W. Polisi. They and their host renewed the cooperation agreement between the two schools.

The delegation included Christopher Mossey, senior managing director of Juilliard Global Ventures; Jane Gottlieb, vice president for library and information resources; José García-León, associate dean for academic affairs; Benjamin Sosland, administrative director of historical performance; Gena Chavez, managing director of the Tianjin Juilliard School, and some school advisors.

SHCM President Lin Zaiyong briefed the American guests on the conservatory’s construction of an opera house and a new campus on Lingling Road. He said the conservatory can learn from the Juilliard School in campus management and education system.

He said the SHCM is opening up new frontiers and offering music-related degree programs like dance and drama. The Juilliard School is a good model in this respect. He invited Polisi to visit again in April 2016 as a guest lecturer.

Polisi said he felt honored on each visit to the SHCM and he still remembers vividly his first visit in 1987 when he led the Juilliard Orchestra to perform in Shanghai. He stressed the ties between the two music schools, adding that the Juilliard can play a role in China’s development.

Officials of the two schools also discussed the possibility of establishing a joint institute for musicology research and the training of students in chamber music and art directing.

Afterwards, the American guests were shown around the SHCM campus. The group visited the He Luting Concert Hall and the school library where they viewed the manuscripts, letters and records of famous Chinese musicians.