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Watching the world come to a strangely anticlimactic end during the final scene of the Kirov Opera’s mystifying “Ring” cycle at Lincoln Center Festival in July, the thought occurred to me that Wagner had tapped into a primordial truth: in order to create, sometimes something must first be destroyed. Call it the Phoenix syndrome, perhaps. Those of us at Juilliard who survived a second summer of deafening noise and disruption, as we watched the Broadway and 65th Street facades of our building transform right before our eyes, are getting to know this syndrome all too well…
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Luckily, here at The Juilliard Journal we’ve not had to destroy to create something new. I’m pleased to report that there are a number of new features in the paper (both the print and virtual versions) this season. In this issue, you’ll find the inaugural Faculty Forum column, established to give faculty members a soap box in print. (Our thanks to Liberal Arts Department chair Mitchell Aboulafia for stepping up to the batter’s box for the first pitch!) This, along with the student "Voice Box" and Letters to the Editor, will make up a new "Points of View" page each month.
We welcome a new Discoveries columnist this season. Bruce Hodges is a regular contributor to MusicWeb International, a London-based online classical music magazine, and the creator of Monotonous Forest, a blog focusing on contemporary music and art. (But for all you classicists out there, not to fear: Bruce will be reviewing the three B’s as well as 20th- and 21st-century music.) His September column is a tribute to the late Beverly Sills.
This year we pay homage to Martin Luther King Jr. with a series of articles marking both the 40th anniversary of his assassination and the 20th annual MLK celebration at Juilliard, one of the School’s most inspiring events (this year’s is scheduled for January 21, 2008, in Paul Hall). The series begins next month with an essay on Dr. King’s legacy, written by new Liberal Arts faculty member Lisa Andersen, and a reminiscence by alumna and actor LisaGay Hamilton, who was among the participants in the first MLK celebration at Juilliard in 1989.
Finally, for our online audience, we spruced up our article pages and added some new features, including “e-mail this article,” “printer-friendly,” and “single page view” links, plus an area for related articles and easy access to event information.
