Juilliard has announced that it will confer honorary doctorates on Gustavo Dudamel, Alicia Graf Mack, Marsha Norman, Masaaki Suzuki, Darren Walker, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.

Dudamel is a word-renowned conductor and the forthccoming music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic. Mack is the dean and director of Juilliard Dance and incoming artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Norman is a Pulitzer and Tony-winning, screenwriter, novelist, and co-director of Juilliard’s playwriting program form 1994 through 2020. Suzuki is an organist, harpsichordist, principal conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum, and a major collaborator of Juilliard’s Historical Performance program. Walker is President of the Ford Foundation and the president of the board of the National Gallery of Art. finally, Zwilich is the first female-identifying composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

“Our 2025 honorary doctorate recipients exemplify how a life in the arts can be a life of impact through performance, leadership, education, and service,” said Juilliard’s president, Damian Woetzel, per an official press release. “As we recognize their achievements, we also celebrate the newest generation of Juilliard graduates, who will carry forward this legacy of excellence and bring their own voices to the world stage.”

Juilliard’s Commencement ceremonies begin on May 20.

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