Dr. Joseph Polisi, President
Ara Guzelimian, Provost and Dean
Dr. Adam Meyer, Associate Dean and Director, Music Division
Joseph Soucy, Assistant Dean for Orchestral Studies
Cc: Damian Woetzel, President-Designate
To the above and the greater Juilliard community:
We are devastated to learn of conductor James Levine’s history of sexual abuse. We believe sexual violence has no place in the performing arts. We respectfully ask the administration:
- to cancel Levine’s 2/23/18 Juilliard Orchestra-Lindemann Program appearance in the Peter J. Sharp Theater, and employ different conducting personnel as necessary, and
- to make a statement to the Juilliard community about Levine’s conduct.
We note that Juilliard dealt decisively with the recent sexual misconduct revelations surrounding Drama alumnus Kevin Spacey and ex-Music faculty Choong Mo Kang. We hope for a commensurate response to this weekend’s disturbing news.
We urge survivors of sexual violence to strive to find the courage to continue speaking out. We look forward to the day when sexual abuse by leaders in our fields is unthinkable, but we know it is still all too common. In this case, we believe a swift and meaningful response is a necessary step toward that vision.
The Juilliard Student Council
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CORRECTED: Letter from Student Council said the concert was 2017, but it is in 2018.
COMMENT REMOVED: One comment asking the School to defend its response to another cases in the past, which included the names of accused perpetrators. REASON REMOVED: Because we are student-run and student-owned, we don’t have the legal resources to confidently publish names of accused perpetrators, and are unable to fact-check the comment. —SJ
2/23/18…. not 2017
Corrected! Thank you. —SJ