I think that it’s fair to say that there are, in the orchestra world, a number of competing interests amongst the musicians. In an ideal world, we’d play pieces that were enjoyable to every one of us, not too terribly difficult to play while being challenging enough to be interesting, for a six-figure salary, and with a schedule that helped to prevent overuse injuries and fatigue. [Read more →]

Yes, hell is freezing over - in 2010.  Rumor is Curtis is planning on fielding a team for 2009.

If you can knock out two flawless etudes, break off a dazzling solo and nail a representative sampling of standard orchestral excerpts — all under the withering scrutiny of the school’s famously demanding faculty — you stand a chance of playing Juilliard football in the fall of 2010.

With more musical prodigies per square inch than perhaps anywhere else on Earth, Juilliard is the last place one would expect to have a football program. But in just two years, the fabled Juilliard campus will fill with the sounds of Chopin, Mozart and the violent cacophony of helmets colliding in three-quarters time.

Be sure you read the very last line of the piece.