The musicians being honored are pianist Joseph Bloch; composer Elliott Carter; composer David Diamond; jazz saxophonist and composer Jimmy Heath; Metropolitan Opera and Boston Symphony conductor James Levine; violinist and teacher Itzhak Perlman; operatic soprano Leontyne Price; and William Vacchiano, the former principal trumpeter of the New York Philharmonic.
Bloch, Carter, Diamond, and Vacchiano are all former Juilliard faculty members; Perlman is an alumnus and a current faculty member; Levine and Price are alumni.
From the dance world, honorees include Alfredo Corvino, a dancer, choreographer, and founding member of Juilliard's dance faculty, and alumnus Bruce H. Marks, former artistic director of Boston Ballet.
Also being honored are Broadway composer Mary Rodgers Guettel, director Michael Langham, playwright Terrance McNally, the late actor Christopher Reeve (whose wife, Dana, will accept the medal), actress Marian Seldes, and arts patrons June Noble Larkin and Rosemary Wilson.