The Juilliard journal

6 Honorary Degrees to Be Awarded at Commencement

May 2009, vol. 24, no. 8

Celebrated American actress and Juilliard alumna Laura Linney will address the graduating class on May 22 at Juilliard’s 104th commencement in Alice Tully Hall. Ms. Linney will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree, as will choreographer and dancer Donald McKayle. Doctor of Music degrees will be awarded to jazz legend and entrepreneur Quincy Jones; groundbreaking composer, alumnus, and 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winner Steve Reich; and soprano and opera director Renata Scotto. Earning a Doctor of Humane Letters will be Dr. Haruhisa Handa. Following are biographical highlights of these six renowned artists.

Performing artist, businessman, philanthropist, and motivational speakerDr. Haruhisa Handa is a modern renaissance man. He performs as an opera singer, Noh actor, and dancer, and is also a composer and arranger, poet, calligrapher, photographer, and author of numerous books. Dr. Handa directs more than a dozen companies and organizations worldwide, ranging from management consulting to sponsorship of symposia and lectures. An international philanthropist, he has founded and built a hospital, schools, and an orphanage in Cambodia, and financed medical research and music education in Australia. In the U.S. and the U.K., Dr. Handa has championed causes as varied as opera, Shinto studies, and golf for the visually impaired. As chairman of the International Foundation for Arts and Culture, he has been a steadfast supporter of the Vocal Arts Department at Juilliard for a decade. The creation of the new Juilliard Opera program inspired him to increase the foundation’s philanthropic commitment to the School through support for a Visiting Artist Chair in Vocal Arts and staged opera productions at Juilliard, among other Vocal Arts activities. Dr. Handa earned a degree in economics from Doshisha University in Kyoto and pursued postgraduate studies in voice at Japan’s prestigious Musashino Academia Musicae, in addition to holding multiple masters’ and doctoral degrees.

 

Commencement 2009

September 2009, vol. 25, no. 1

Commencement 2009
 
 

The graduating class of 2009 was treated not only to a bright, balmy afternoon on Friday, May 22, the day of Juilliard’s first commencement ceremony in the newly-renovated Alice Tully Hall, but to a commencement address by one of the School’s most illustrious alumni, actor Laura Linney, who, along with choreographer and dancer Donald McKayle, jazz legend and entrepreneur Quincy Jones, composer Steve Reich, soprano and opera director Renata Scotto, and performing artist and philanthropist Haruhisa Handa, received an honorary doctorate that day. Here is a transcript of Ms. Linney’s speech, which can be heard on the Juilliard multimedia gallery.