Juilliard School Announces $20 Million Gift for Early Music
Submitted by Steve on January 16, 2012
From James R. Oestreich at The New York Times:
(O)n Tuesday, the Juilliard School is announcing a $20 million gift to endow its graduate-level program in historical performance. The sheer size of the gift is enough to make heads snap in the early-music world, whose practitioners typically struggle to stay a step ahead of poverty.
The donor is Bruce Kovner, the chairman of the school’s board, who recently retired as chairman of the $10 billion hedge fund Caxton Associates. Mr. Kovner, 66, has already financed the curriculum in period performance, which began in 2009, through its development and several academic years costing, he said in a telephone interview, $500,000 to $1 million each.