China's first lady visits Juilliard School

Peng Liyuan admires manuscripts of Beethoven and Mozart in Lincoln Center in New York on September 28, 2015. [Photo by Ma Zhancheng/Xinhua]

The school will build a new international faculty for the branch, which will include some of its alumni from China and elsewhere.

The Juilliard School has enrolled students from China since the 1920s. Today, there are nearly 300 pre-college and college alumni from Greater China, and there are more than 80 Chinese students enrolled at the Juilliard college and pre-college programs in New York.

Shen Yiwen, a Shanghai-born composer who is pursuing his doctoral degree at Juilliard in New York, was commissioned by the National Ballet of China to compose for a full-length ballet, Crane Whisperer. It premiered in Beijing from Sept 23-26.

"Artist as a citizen" is a phrase known to every Juilliard student. Shen said performing his work in China and educating the Chinese audience is his mission, and he said he has seen very positive change in the past years.

"After the Beijing Forum on Literature and Art held last October, definitely I see more and more original works to be commissioned and to be performed. Not only music composition, but also operas, ballets, dances, dramas," he said.

Polisi also spoke highly of the music environment in China. "There is a much deeper respect and understanding of Western art and music in China than some places in the United States. Quite honestly. Absolutely," he said.